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| photo credit: theguardian |
At least 26 members of Nigeria's security forces were killed and eight wounded in an ambush by gunmen in central Nigeria on Sunday night, two military sources told AFP.
Separately, an air force spokesman said a helicopter to rescue the wounded crashed in the area on Monday morning, where the military is battling criminal groups, which It was not clear whether the crew and passengers survived.
Two military officers requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the incident and military officials were not available for comment.
“We lost 23 soldiers, including 3 officers and 3 JTF (vigilant) civilians in the encounter while eight were injured,” the first source said after “a serious altercation.” along the Zungeru-Tegina highway.
A second officer made a similar assessment and said the robbers also suffered "heavy casualties". He also said contact with an Air Force helicopter sent to evacuate the wounded had been lost, with 11 dead and seven wounded on board.
He said the helicopter was carrying 11 people killed and 7 injured. He added that the plane crashed because of a "robbery" fire.
A spokesman for the Nigerian Air Force confirmed that its Mi-171 helicopter on a "casualty evacuation mission" crashed Monday after taking off from Zungeru.
"The plane had left Zungeru Primary School en route to Kaduna, but it was later discovered that it had crashed near the village of Chukuba in Shiroro Local Government Area in Niger State," spokesman Edward Gabkwet said. know in a statement. He said efforts are underway to save those on board and preliminary investigations have been opened into the cause of the accident.
Almost a week has passed in Africa's most populous country without attacks or kidnappings by criminals known as "bandits" in the northwest and center of the country.
The gangs, known for their mass kidnappings of schools, maintain camps in a vast forest located between the states of Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina.
Northwest and central Nigeria have for many years been terrorized by bandits who attack remote villages, where they kill and kidnap residents for ransom, as well as burn their homes after looting.
The absence of impunity coupled with a lack of security and a growing government presence has allowed the violence to escalate, experts say.
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