Browsing: Jihadists

On August 16, one of northwestern Nigeria’s most notorious bandits, Dogo Gide, released a video in which he claimed his fighters were responsible for downing a Nigerian air force helicopter in Shiroro, Kaduna State; this attack killed 20 soldiers and three senior military officers (premiumtimesng.com, August 16). Shiroro is where Ansaru, an al-Qaeda-affiliated and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)-loyal faction, attempted to recruit villagers and establish hideouts in 2021 (dailytrust.com, June 28, 2021). Ansaru also employed the same tactic when it shot down another air force helicopter en route from Kaduna to the Nigerian capital of Abuja in 2020 (punchng.com, February 6, 2020). These factors combine with reports of Dogo Gide allying with Ansaru to lend credibility to Gide’s claim that his group brought down the aforementioned helicopter (humangle.ng, June 9, 2020).