Nigeria: Gunmen kill 15 in northern state

Nigeria’s fragile security situation has seemingly been undermined further amid reports that gunmen killed 15 people in the northern Niger state, as reported by AP on March 1st.

This is according to a March 1st X post by Amnesty International, which detailed three simultaneous attacks in the Tashan Maje, Saduro, and Runtuwa villages located in the Borgu area of the north-central Niger state on February 28th.

Following the ambush, the Nigerian military said it had arrested 20 suspects and recovered a cache of weapons, ammunition, logistics supplies, stolen crude oil, illicit drugs and rustled livestock in what the army described as “a relentless push to degrade terrorist networks and criminal syndicates nationwide.”

While it is currently unclear if a jihadist group was responsible for the violence, northwestern and central Nigeria face a complex security crisis with armed criminal gangs, and the northeast struggles to contain rising Islamist militancy.

Groups including Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), are particularly active in the northeastern Borno State; both organisations are affiliated with the Islamic State and seek to establish an Islamic Caliphate in Africa.

Jihadist violence in Borno State has forced thousands to seek refuge in neighbouring Cameroon, which has also faced deadly Islamist attacks in the Lake Chad region.

Similarly, northwestern Nigeria has experienced violence from the Lakurawa militants, which originated in the Sahel.

On February 18th, a suspected Lakurawa attack killed at least 33 people in Kebbi State, which borders Benin and Niger.

The border region between Nigeria, Niger and Benin has experienced rising jihadist violence from groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Benin has blamed deadly cross-border raids by jihadist groups as being the result of a spillover of Islamist violence from Niger and Burkina Faso.

On February 27th, Benin and Nigeria formalised cross-border counterterrorism cooperation in Benin’s Cotonou, which could include coordinating border patrols, sharing intelligence, conducting joint operations, and monitoring cross-border flows.

France, Benin’s former colonial ruler, also participated in discussions, with the West African countries expected to seek intelligence support from the European ally.

The apparent West Africa-France alliance has sparked controversy with Niger and its junta-led Sahel allies, Mali and Burkina Faso.

During a February 14th state radio broadcast, Niger’s junta leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, made many criticisms of “France and its West African lackeys.”

He implicated France in a range of controversies, including the misappropriation of natural resources and the January 29th attack on an airport and military base in Niamey.

AP, Maghrebi.org/