Armed bandits deployed Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) along Shimfida– Gurbi Road, Jibia Local Government Area (LGA) of Katsina state and ambushed a military convoy escorting residents of Shimfida community to Jibia town.
POLITICS NIGERIA learned that the attack on Wednesday threw the town in confusion.
An Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) of the Nigerian Army ran over the IEDs, subsequently killing two security operatives and injuring four others.
A credible security source said the slain soldiers were among the troops of 32 Battalion of the Nigeria Army in the state deployed in Shimfida to restore peace in the hitherto terrorists ravaged community.
According to him, two soldiers died instantly while four others sustained varying degrees of injuries when the IEDs exploded.
He however said the attack which later snowballed into a heavy exchange of gunfire, led to the killing of several terrorists and left some of them with serious gunshot wounds.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Shimfida Youth Development Association, Sa’ad Salisu, confirmed the development.
Hundreds of people have been killed in recent times by criminal gangs carrying out robberies and kidnappings in northwest Nigeria.
Such attacks have added to security challenges in Africa’s most populous country, which is already struggling to contain Boko Haram attacks in the northeast and communal violence over grazing rights in central states.