Armed bandits kill six soldiers and two officers on the outskirts of the FCT in Niger State

NIGERIA continues to reel from the effects of violent insecurity as armed bandits struck again yesterday attacking Abuja from the Suleija-Zuma axis in Niger Stare in a bloody attack that left six soldiers and two officers dead.

On Monday, armed bandits attacked an Abuja to Kaduna train, killing some passengers and abducting others in a gruesome attack. This came on the heels of a weekend attack on the Kaduna International Airport by over 200 well-armed terrorists and a similar attack on the Obowo Police Station in Imo State.

Just as the country was recovering from these gruesome attacks, yesterday bandits from Niger State bent on infiltrating Abuja struck, killing six soldiers and two officers in an ambush. During the attack which later snowballed into a full-fledged confrontation, several of the bandits were reportedly killed by troops.

Meanwhile, the injured soldiers were evacuated to a military hospital in the Federal Capital Territory, with one of them said to be in critical condition. Apparently, the bandits had gathered in the forest between Suleija and Zuma, along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, from where they struck.

Apparently, as the troops led by the two officers approached, the bandits opened fire from multiple angles of the forest. At the end of the encounter, the remains of the two officers and six soldiers were recovered.

Some soldiers, who could not stand the firepower of the bandits who were said to be heavily armed, escaped from the scene, while those who survived ran to the barracks and reported the ambush before reinforcements were deployed.  At this point, the commander of the 102 Guards Battalion was said to have personally mobilised troops in five operational vehicles from the Zuma Army barracks for the counter-offensive.