Armed bandits have killed an officer and six soldiers in an ambush on Nigerian Army troops in Rigachiku, a garrison community in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
According to PR Nigeria, the attack occurred on Monday as troops were returning from a clearance operation in which several terrorists had been killed.
Security sources disclosed that a fierce gunfight erupted between the troops and the terrorists, with many of the assailants also feared dead.
The ambush follows weeks of sustained military operations along the Zaria-Kaduna highway, during which a significant number of terrorists were reportedly eliminated.
The Nigerian Army has yet to issue an official statement on the incident. Enquiries sent to its spokesperson, Appolonia Anele, had not been responded to at the time of this report.
However, reinforcement operations have reportedly been launched in the area to prevent further attacks and to track down the assailants.
Kaduna State has endured years of multidimensional violence, including communal clashes and the farmers-herders crisis, which has since evolved into banditry and terrorism. Affected areas include Igabi, Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Kagoro, Kachia, Jema’a, and Kajuru, among others.
The farmers-herders crisis often assumes an ethno-religious dimension, involving nomadic Fulani herders and indigenous sedentary farmers, particularly in southern Kaduna, where armed gangs have killed and displaced many.
In parts of Kaduna such as Birnin Gwari, a federal government-backed peace deal with Fulani bandits has reduced highway kidnappings and rampant raids on villages, according to locals.
A youth leader in Kaduna told Premium Times that while Birnin Gwari currently enjoys relative peace, the terrorists with whom the government reached the peace deal have shifted their focus to other parts of the state.