Three police officers die in Zamfara after bomb blast

Three police officers sadly lost their lives on Monday when their vehicle hit a bomb planted by terrorists in Zamfara State.

Mugira Yusuf, a media aide to Governor Dauda Lawal, confirmed the news in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement said the officers were on routine patrol aiming to find armed groups along the Anka, Bagega road when the incident happened.

One of the police unit's armoured personnel carriers ran over the Improvised Explosive Device buried by the terrorists.

Mr. Yusuf named the officers who died as Abdulrazak Hassan, a superintendent of police, Murtala Musa, an inspector, and Auwal Ahmad, also an inspector.

He mentioned that all three officers were trained experts in explosive ordnance disposal attached to the Zamfara State Police Command.

After the blast, bandits reportedly came out of the nearby forest and set the damaged armoured vehicle on fire before fleeing back into the bush.

The police spokesperson in Zamfara, Yazeed Abubakar, could not be reached for comments on Tuesday afternoon.

The use of buried explosives on Zamfara roads shows a change in how the security crisis is unfolding in northwestern Nigeria.

In the past, the armed groups in Zamfara, commonly called “bandits,” mainly used guerrilla tactics like mass kidnappings, cattle rustling, and quick attacks on villages with small arms and light weapons like AK-47s.

But now, counter-terrorism analysts and local residents say these criminal gangs are starting to use tactics usually seen with insurgent groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP in the Northeast.