Gunmen attack Nigeria mine, kidnap four Chinese workers

• Gunmen attack a mine in Niger state, and abduct four Chinese nationals and other workers.
• Kidnapping for ransom has become a major issue in the northwest and central Nigeria.
• Nigeria recently listed bandit gangs operating in the northwest as terrorist groups.

Gunmen attacked a mine in central Nigeria on Thursday, killing some security personnel and kidnapping four Chinese nationals and other workers, according to a state security official.

Kidnapping for ransom has become a major issue in northwest and central Nigeria, where heavily armed criminal gangs known as bandits abduct residents, schools, and businesses.

Chinese employees working on mines and large infrastructure projects in remote areas are often targeted for kidnapping and usually released after a short period in captivity.

Gunmen attacked the mine in Ajata Aboki village in Shiroro region of Niger state on Wednesday afternoon, the local commissioner for security, Emmanuel Umar said in a statement.

“A yet to be ascertained number of workers in the mining site, including four Chinese nationals, were reported to have been abducted,” the statement said.

It said some of the attackers were also killed.

“Security forces mobilized reinforcement for the manhunt of the remaining terrorists.”

Umar blamed the attack on “armed bandits/terrorists”. Nigeria recently listed bandit gangs operating in the northwest as terrorist groups, in a move to give the military more flexibility in operations against them.

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The statement gave no casualty figure, but said the state government commiserated with the security agencies and families of “slain personnel”.

It did not name the mining business or say what material was being extracted.

Attacks by bandit militias in Nigeria are ravaging parts of the country with daily newspaper headlines describing gunmen raiding villages, ransacking rural communities and kidnapping residents.

Militia violence has increased, with thousands of people killed each year, hundreds kidnapped, and nearly one million people displaced by attacks and intercommunal clashes in the region.

Nigeria’s overstretched security forces are also fighting jihadists in the country’s northeast, where 40,000 people have been killed and another 2.2 million have been displaced since 2009.

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