Bandits from Niger, Chad kill two

A group of bandits killed two people and injured several others after they opened fire on a bus in northeastern Nigeria, a local newspaper reported on Monday.

A police official told IRIN the attackers were suspected of being rebels and former insurgents from neighbouring countries. "Usually local people who have been attacked by these bandits can tell from their looks and accents that they're from either Niger or Chad across the border," he said.

'The Guardian', a Lagos daily, reported the incident occurred on Thursday on a 90-km highway between the towns of Damaturu in Yobe state and Maiduguri, in neighbouring Bornu. It quoted Yobe State Police Commissioner Azubuike Udah as saying police engaged over 20 raiders in a fierce gun battle. The bandits fled when police reinforcements arrived, he said.

In recent years Nigeria's security authorities have reported several incursions by armed groups from Niger and Chad. This has prompted several meetings with officials from Nigeria's two northern neighbours as well as joint security efforts which police sources said have reduced but not eliminated the incursions.