At Least Eight Security Personnel Killed in Ambush on Police Convoy in Nigeria’s Zamfara

MAIDUGURI, November 3, 2026 — At least eight security personnel were killed when attackers ambushed a police convoy in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state on Tuesday, according to local vigilante officials who spoke to Reuters.

The dead included five police officers and three members of the Zamfara Community Protection Guard, a state-backed outfit that supports security operations, vigilante commandant Lawal Haruna said. The attack was reported near Gidan-Giye village in the Tsafe Local Government Area, where armed attacks and kidnappings have repeatedly challenged local security forces.

Abubakar Isa, a member of the community protection guard, said the attackers opened fire on a 15-seat bus carrying the security team and destroyed the vehicle. The account of the three guard members killed was provided by the local vigilante commandant.

Police said they recovered the bodies of five officers. A police statement said seven personnel were rescued alive and without injuries, while two officers who sustained gunshot wounds were taken to hospital for treatment. Police also said the attackers took five service AK-47 rifles and that joint teams had been deployed to search the area and recover the weapons.

Reuters separately cited a police officer as saying that some personnel may have been abducted during the attack. Authorities had not confirmed how many people, if any, remained missing, so the reported abductions could not be independently established in the information available on Tuesday.

Zamfara is among the states in Nigeria’s northwest that have faced persistent violence involving armed groups, kidnappings for ransom and attacks on rural communities and security patrols. The convoy ambush underlines the risks faced by police and state-backed local guards operating in areas where armed groups can target vehicles and personnel on the roads.

The immediate investigation is expected to focus on identifying the attackers, accounting for all personnel who were travelling with the convoy and recovering the firearms taken from the scene. Nigerian authorities had not publicly identified a group responsible for the ambush in the reports available at the time of publication.