Five police officers have been killed and several others injured in an ambush by bandits at Gidan Kano on the Gusau-Sokoto highway in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
The officers were travelling in an 18-seater bus belonging to the Zamfara State Transport Authority when they were attacked on Monday morning.
The security personnel were reportedly on their way to provide security during the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial rerun primary in Zamfara North Senatorial District when the incident occurred.
A witness, who spoke to Daily Trust on condition of anonymity, said the bandits lay in ambush for the security operatives as they travelled along the highway.
He said about five officers were feared killed, while several others sustained varying degrees of injury.
“The bandits lay in ambush for the security personnel travelling in the Zamfara State Transport Authority bus. Five of them were killed, while many others were injured. The bullets penetrated the bus from different angles,” he said.
However, another resident, who also spoke to Daily Trust on condition of anonymity, claimed that eight security personnel were killed, while several others were abducted by the gunmen.
He said residents helped to evacuate the bodies of the deceased officers but could not account for some of the other personnel.
“Eight security personnel were killed, and we helped to load their corpses into two different vehicles. We suspect that the remaining officers were abducted because they could not be found,” he added.
In a related development, bandits ambushed workers of a telecommunications company at Tungan Tama village, along the same Gusau-Sokoto highway, a few kilometres from the scene of the attack at Gidan Kano.
One person was reportedly killed, while several others sustained injuries in the attack on the telecommunications workers.
“The bandits attacked them at Tungan Tama village, but they managed to reach Tashar Mayanchi, where we discovered that one person had been killed,” a resident said.
Daily Trust gathered that bandits had carried out several attacks on communities along the highway, targeting travellers, residents and workers.
The repeated attacks, involving road blockades, ambushes and kidnappings, have raised concerns about the safety of the strategic highway linking Zamfara State with Sokoto and other parts of the North-West.
Commuters using the route continue to face the risk of being caught in attacks, while residents and motorists have expressed fears over the growing insecurity along the corridor.
Police confirm attack on officers
The spokesperson of the Zone 10 Police Command headquarters in Sokoto, ASP Abdallah Faruk Ambursa, confirmed the attack. The zone covers Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states.
He said the victims were officers attached to the headquarters and were travelling for official duty.
He said he could not provide further details because the incident occurred in Zamfara State, where the state police command was investigating the matter.
“I cannot give details of the development or the identities of the victims for now until after the investigation,” he said.
Ambursa, however, disclosed that the victims were evacuated to Sokoto but declined to disclose where their bodies were deposited.
He further said those injured in the attack were receiving treatment at a hospital.
When asked about the number of officers involved, Ambursa said the Zamfara Police Command would give a detailed report subsequently.
“We await a detailed report. As soon as it is ready, we will update you,” he said.
98 cops killed in 10 months
At least 98 police personnel have died in different incidents across 21 states between January and October 2026, data compiled by Daily Trust has shown. The data was compiled from news reports confirmed by police authorities.
The deaths involved attacks by bandits, gunmen and terrorists, as well as road accidents and shootings by fellow police officers.
Yobe State recorded the highest number of casualties, with 17 officers killed, followed by Zamfara and Kebbi states with 14 each.
Katsina recorded five deaths, while Borno and Taraba recorded four each. Rivers, Sokoto, Plateau, Enugu, Lagos and Imo recorded three deaths each.
Oyo, Anambra, Abia, Kaduna and Kogi recorded two deaths each, while Adamawa, Kano and Niger recorded one respectively.
A breakdown of the figures showed that bandits were responsible for 35 deaths, gunmen 29 and Boko Haram terrorists 22. Two officers were killed by Lakurawa terrorists.
Other deaths included three officers shot by fellow policemen, four killed in road incidents involving accidents and hit-and-run drivers, one killed by kidnappers, one by hoodlums and another by thugs.
Some of the deadliest attacks occurred in Kebbi State, where 10 policemen were killed in a gun duel with bandits at Rafin Makuku axis of Sakaba Local Government Area on August 10.
Police authorities said the incident occurred at about 9:25 a.m. on Monday, August 10, 2026, when police operatives intercepted the suspected bandits who were moving between Zamfara and Kebbi states.
The police said 17 suspected bandits were neutralised during the encounter, while four motorcycles belonging to the attackers were destroyed.
In Yobe, 17 officers were reportedly killed during an attack on the Nigerian Army Special Forces School in Buni Yadi on May 16.
“The officers, who were undergoing specialised operational training at the institution, lost their lives when the militants launched a coordinated attack on the facility from multiple directions,” then police spokesman, DCP Anthony Okon Placid, said in a statement.
He said several soldiers were also killed, though he did not give a figure for military casualties.
Benue also recorded several attacks, including the killing of four policemen during a gun duel with gunmen at Ayilamo community in Logo Local Government Area, on September 10.
“The operatives stood firm in defence of the community and successfully repelled the attack, forcing the criminal elements to retreat into the surrounding forest with heavy casualties in the early hours of 11th September 2026,” the Benue State Police Command said in a statement.
The command identified the slain officers as Paul Ina, Mohammed Yusuf, Oge Ikechukwu and Edeh Andrew.
Their bodies were recovered from surrounding bushes during search and rescue operations, the police said.
Seven civilians were also killed. Their bodies were recovered after the attack and deposited at a mortuary, according to the command.
In January, Inspector Sani Malumfashi was allegedly shot dead by a fellow officer at Intels, Onne in Rivers State.
In October, Corporal Amos Yusuf reportedly shot his colleague, Corporal Grace Onimisi, dead at their residence in Asco Camp, Ajaokuta, Kogi State, before taking his own life.
Expert demands intelligence-led security for election duties
A security expert, Detective Auwal Bala Durumin Iya, has called for intelligence-led security deployment, armoured vehicles and proper threat assessment before policemen are deployed to provide security during elections in banditry-prone areas.
He maintained that poor security planning was exposing personnel to deadly ambushes, urging security agencies to conduct comprehensive crime statistics and identify black spots before deploying personnel for election duties.
He explained that such assessments would enable security authorities to identify areas where bandits operate and plan ambushes, stressing that intelligence officers should be deployed ahead of the main security team to establish the safety of the locations.
According to him, intelligence operatives must ascertain whether an area is safe, whether armed groups are lurking around and whether there are indications of planned attacks before policemen are sent there.
The security expert also advocated the deployment of bulletproof vehicles to protect officers against attacks, saying conventional patrol vehicles leave security personnel vulnerable when confronted by heavily armed criminals.
He further recommended the use of aerial surveillance, including drones, to monitor suspected bandit hideouts and surrounding communities before security personnel move into such areas.
Durumin Iya regretted that security personnel were sometimes deployed without adequate knowledge of the terrain, crime statistics, or possible escape routes in the event of an ambush.
He described the practice as a dangerous approach to security operations, insisting that election security should not be handled through what he called local arrangements without proper strategic planning.
“The way forward is strategic security planning. Nigeria must stop relying on local arrangements in security operations. There must be surveillance and intelligence gathering to confirm that an area is safe before policemen are deployed,” he said.
He added that security agencies must prioritise intelligence gathering, threat assessment and coordinated surveillance to prevent further loss of lives among personnel assigned to protect electoral activities.
Another security analyst, Dr Yahuza Getso, said the killing of senior security officers by criminals exposes weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture, intelligence management and operational capacity.
Getso said the attack also raised questions about how criminal groups obtained information about the movements of security personnel, describing the incident as a calculated ambush rather than a random attack.
He warned that the development could signal worsening security challenges if the authorities failed to address the weaknesses exposed by the incident.
“It’s telling us how weak our security architecture is. It’s also telling us about the improved capacity of the criminal elements. It also exposes our inability to manage information squarely, especially intelligence information,” he said.
The analyst said the incident further exposed gaps in personnel capacity and the effectiveness of collaboration, training and operational preparedness among security agencies.
“It also clearly tells us about the collaboration and partnership, the capacity of the training and the ability of these guys to conduct their operations successfully and go away,” he said.
Getso expressed concern that the killing of security officials suggested that even personnel expected to provide security were increasingly vulnerable to attacks.
“If security officials are attacked and killed, it means that no one is safe,” he said.
Getso added that the continued failure to address the security challenges would leave the country in a precarious situation.
