Nigeria's Katsina state shuts some communications as bandit battle widens

FILE PHOTO: Police officers walk at the JSS Jangebe school, a day after over 300 school girls were abducted by bandits, in Zamfara, Nigeria February 27, 2021. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

BAUCHI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian officials cut communication lines in multiple parts of Katsina state as a crackdown on banditry in the northwest of the country spreads.

Katsina state security adviser Ibrahim Ahmed told Reuters by phone that the government directed a communications blackout in 13 local government areas to hinder criminality in the region.