Gunmen ambushed security personnel on patrol in communities in Nigeria’s Plateau state, according to the state government.
The government did not specify the number of casualties. A local group, the Kanam Development Association (KADA), said 20 personnel—including two senior military officers and eight local security operatives—were killed in the ambush.
The ambush happened on Friday around the Wanka, Kyaram and Gyambau communities in the Kanam area of Plateau state, the report said. No group had claimed responsibility as of the report.
Sunday, the Plateau state government condemned the attack and said security agencies were implementing measures to intensify surveillance and reinforce security presence across vulnerable communities.
KADA, in a statement on Saturday, said the communities had been subjected for over three to four years to repeated attacks, cattle rustling, kidnappings and destruction of property by armed bandits that it said appear to operate with “alarming freedom.”
The attack reflects a wider security crisis that Nigeria has been battling for years, involving multiple armed groups, particularly in the northern part of the country.
Among the prominent Islamic militant groups cited in the report were Boko Haram and a breakaway faction affiliated with the Islamic State group known as Islamic State West Africa Province. The report also mentioned the IS-linked Lakurawa and other armed groups that specialize in kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining.
It said the crisis has worsened recently to include militants from the neighboring Sahel region, including the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which it said claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil last year.
The report said several thousand people in Nigeria have been killed, citing United Nations data, and that analysts believe not enough is being done by the government to protect its citizens.
The report also said the United States has sent troops to Nigeria to help advise its military on the fight against insecurity.
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