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Nigerian cops kill thousands
02/04/2004 09:35 - (SA)
Abuja - Nigeria's notoriously aggressive police have killed 7 198 suspected armed robbers since the start of the year 2000, the force announced on Thursday at a news conference.
Already, in the first two months of this year, 422 robbers have been "killed in combat", according to a dossier of statistics given to journalists by the west African giant's police chief Inspector General Tafa Balogun.
Since the turn of the Millennium a total of 25 397 armed robbery suspects have been arrested, he revealed, a figure which suggests that almost a quarter of the bandits who encounter the police end up dead.
Over the period January 2000 to February 2004, 314 police officers were "killed in operation", the dossier revealed.
"The crime statistics above show that more successes were recorded in years 2002 and 2003 than in year 2000 and 2001, especially in the arrest and elimination of armed robbers," the statement said.
"A similar pattern of operational effectiveness is emerging this year. This attests to the efficacy of the renewed offensive against armed bandits using the instrumentality of Operation Fire-for-Fire," it added.
Fire-for-Fire is Nigeria's zero tolerance-style policy for dealing with armed crime through the use of lethal force and heavily armed, rapid reaction patrols drawn from the Mobile Police.
Despite such uncompromising tactics, however, Nigeria's roads continue to be plagued by armed bandits, and Balogun's force has come in for much criticism over its failure to prevent a string of recent assassinations.
In the run-up to last Saturday's local government elections, which were marred by several deadly outbreaks of faction fighting, the police launched an operation to seize illegal firearms being stored by political gangs.
Since March 14, 35 suspects have been killed and 89 arrested under this initiative, for the loss of seven police officers killed and 13 injured, the statement said.
Both Nigerian and international human rights groups regularly accuse the police of overreacting to public order problems, firing indiscriminately and carrying out extra-judicial executions. The force denies the charges.
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