‘Bandits’ kill nine solidiers in northwest Nigeria attack

KANO, Nigeria: Armed "bandits" killed nine soldiers in an attack last week in an area of northwest Nigeria wracked by cattle rustling and kidnappings, military and civilian sources said Monday.

Dozens of gunmen on motorcycles on Thursday stormed a military post in the remote village of Sunke in Zamfara state and opened fire, the sources said. "We lost nine soldiers," a senior military officer in the state capital Gusau, told AFP.

"Investigations are ongoing to unravel what really happened," said the officer, who asked not to be identified. Residents said the bandits attacked the troops to avenge the killing of their comrades after the military raided their camps in a nearby forest. The incident happened despite an existing truce between the gangs and the regional government, they said.