The death toll in the bandits/illegal miners clash in Kaduna over gold has hit 17, according to an updated report by AFP, quoting a security report.
The clashes took place on Thursday in Kaduna state, one of several in northwestern and central Nigeria that for years have been terrorised by criminal gangs of cattle thieves and kidnapping for ransom by bandits.
The gangs maintain camps in a vast forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Niger states from where they launch attacks on communities.
Violence erupted at an illegal mining site in Birnin Gwari district when a bandit kingpin “extorted gold from miners at gunpoint”, the report quoted by AFP said.