Effectively Kills 250 Bandits And Captures 600 Militants, Nigeria Extends Telecommunication Blackout

Illustration of Nigerian security forces. (Wikimedia Commons/VOA/Nicolas Pinault)

JAKARTA - Nigeria will maintain a telecommunications blackout across much of the country's northwest, to help the armed force's crackdown on bandits responsible for a wave of kidnappings and attacks, a top general of the country said.

All telephone and internet services were shut down across Zamfara State in early September, and the blackout later extended to areas of Katsina, Sokoto, and Kaduna states as military operations against bandits intensified.

The shutdown of telecommunications networks has made it difficult to know what is happening in the affected areas and has disrupted daily life and business for millions of people.

"Telecommunication in the northwest was closed out of necessity. We have achieved success in this period", said Lucky Irabor, Nigeria's chief of defense staff, citing Reuters, October 14.

"So the shutdown will stay for as long as it's needed. The closure is more of a blessing than anything else".

Gangs of bandits camping in remote forests and traveling on motorbikes have kidnapped more than 1,100 children from schools, targeting villagers and people traveling by road. In most cases, they demand ransoms, and many have been paid although details are rarely published.

Irabor said the armed forces had killed 250 bandits in the northwest since the outage began.

He also said more than 600 insurgents had been arrested during that period, without elaborating. It was unclear whether he was referring to bandits or ISIS insurgents, who are mostly concentrated in the northeast rather than the northwest.

Last Thursday, Nigerian security forces rescued 187 people who had been kidnapped and held hostage by armed gangs in the northwestern state of Zamfara, police said, after authorities launched a security operation against the kidnappers.

Since December last year, Zamfara has been the center of often violent kidnappings by heavily armed bandits targeting schools, villages, and people traveling on highways for ransom.

The government last month shut down telecommunications networks in Zamfara and other states, to disrupt coordination and communication between armed gangs.

Mohammed Shehu, police spokesman for Zamfara said in a statement that some 187 people, including women and children, had been arrested by kidnappers from four local government areas in the state several weeks ago.

"Police and other security agencies have carried out attacks on the locations of identified bandits in various parts of the state, intending to clear the country of all activities of recalcitrant bandits and other criminal elements", Shehu explained.