Persistent armed banditry attacks in Nigeria’s Katsina State have forced many young men and women to join vigilante groups to defend themselves. Local authorities are giving their backing with improved training regiments for residents. They hope it makes them better prepared for any attacks.

Persistent armed banditry attacks in Nigeria’s Katsina State have forced many young men and women to join vigilante groups to defend themselves. Local authorities are giving their backing with improved training regiments for residents. They hope it makes them better prepared for any attacks.

Nigeria's security forces are battling on several fronts, taking on extremist groups in the northeast, criminal gangs in the northwest and center, and separatists in the southeast. Fear among the citizenry is spreading, as DW's Flourish Chukwurah reports.

Residents and criminal gangs in the country often engage in violence towards one another, often sparked by cattle theft. Security forces have been deployed to search for the culprits.

Bandit attacks using motorbikes have increased in northwestern Nigeria leading to the loss of lives and properties. The region has a long history of bandits raiding villages, conducting kidnappings and stealing cattle.

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Suspected bandits in the early hours of Tuesday attacked the staff quarters of the University of Abuja, abducting four staff of the institution along with their children.

The Nigerian authorities had negotiated with heavily armed gangs to secure the release of the villagers, according to local reports.

A Nigerian jet has been downed in the northwest of the country. The pilot safely ejected and avoided capture.

Nigeria almost lost another highly-trained military officer after a Nigerian Airforce fighter jet was shot down by so-called bandits between the boundaries of Zamfara and Kaduna. But Flight Lieutenant Abayomi Dairo, against all odds, displayed why the motto of the air branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces is "Willing … Able … Ready."⁣

The State Governor of kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje narrowly escaped death after deadly bandits unleashed an attack on his convoy on their way back from Zamfara state.