A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Mi-171 transport helicopter crashed after being shot at by bandits during a rescue mission. The helicopter was returning from the scene of an earlier ambush near Kindu village in Shiroro in which 25 soldiers were killed and seven others wounded, Reuters reports. Military sources said the helicopter, which had wounded troops and their dead comrades aboard, as well as four crew members, crashed near Chukuba shortly after taking fire from bandits.
It was unclear if the crash caused further fatalities.
Nigerian security forces are battling armed gangs that have killed thousands of people during sprees of kidnapping, looting and theft in villages across the country’s northwest.
The country is also grappling with a 13-year insurgency against Islamist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province in the north as well as a violent secessionist group in the east.
