Three Police Officers Killed as Armoured Vehicle Strikes IED in Zamfara

Three police officers attached to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit of the Zamfara State Police Command were killed on Monday when their Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) struck an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) allegedly planted by bandits along the Anka–Bagega road.

The officers were conducting patrols along the Anka–Bagega axis when the APC ran over the buried explosive device. According to a statement by the spokesman to Governor Dauda Lawal, Mugira Yusuf, armed bandits reportedly emerged from nearby forests, set the damaged APC ablaze and fled.

A source told Daily Trust that the officers had earlier succeeded in locating and detonating several explosives planted by bandits before the fatal incident occurred.

“The EOD squad received intelligence that bandits had planted multiple IEDs along the route. They successfully neutralised several of them, but another device exploded when their APC passed over it,” the source said.

The officers were buried according to Islamic rites. Funeral prayers were led by the Chief Imam of the Zamfara State Police Command, CSP Alhassan Suleiman, and attended by the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, the Secretary to the Zamfara State Government, Abubakar Nakwada, and heads of security agencies.

DSP Yazid Abubakar, the Police Public Relations Officer in Zamfara, identified the deceased officers as the Officer Commanding EOD, SP Abdulrazak Musa Hassan, Inspector Auwal Ahmad, and Inspector Murtala Musa.

Speaking during a condolence visit to the Zamfara State Police Command Headquarters in Gusau, the IGP vowed that security forces would intensify operations against bandits and other criminal elements nationwide.

“The fight against criminal elements will be sustained with greater force. There will be no safe haven for them,” Disu said.

The IGP also commended the collaboration among the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and the police, saying intelligence sharing and joint operations remained essential to tackling insecurity.

Sources: Daily Trust