At least nine provincial security operatives keeping guard in a local community were recently killed in an ambush by a group of gunmen in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Zamfara, an official said Tuesday.

Dauda Lawal, governor of Zamfara, said in a statement that the civil guards operating under the state’s Community Protection Guards scheme were gunned down by the gunmen who laid an ambush for them at a security checkpoint on the outskirts of Tsafe, a town in the Tsafe local government area, late Monday.

“The bandits’ ambush on our guards is a cowardly act, as they were dispersed and on the run due to sustained troops’ onslaught across the state,” Lawal said of the incident.

The governor also hinted about the injuries sustained by other security operatives during the attack but did not give a figure of the injured casualties.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency