NAF Airstrikes Kill 20 Zamfara Bandits
About 20 bandits including their leaders have been neutralized in airstrikes executed by the Air component of Operation Hadarin Daji in the Zamfara State section of the Kagara Forest.
The Defence headquarters said this was achieved last Thursday, pursuant to human intelligence reports indicating that some bandits had relocated with a large number of rustled livestock from the Sokoto State side of the forest and set up camp in the Zamfara state portion.
According to a statement on Saturday by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, after confirming the exact location of the camp, the Nigerian Air Force fighter jets bombed the target.
The statement titled, ‘Key bandit leaders neutralized by Air component of Operation Hadarin Daji at Kagara Forest in Zamfara State’ was signed by Enenche.
It read, “The Air component dispatched NAF fighter jets and helicopter gunships to engage the location. As the attack aircraft approached the camp, some of the bandits and their leaders were seen fleeing towards the surrounding bushes.
“Consequently, the attack aircraft struck the area of vegetation taking out several of the bandits. Human intelligence sources later confirmed that eight bandit leaders and no fewer than a dozen of their fighters were killed as a result of the strikes.”
In a related development, troops of Operation Whirl Stroke have killed two armed herdsmen who attacked Chambe community in Logo LGA of Benue State where two villagers were killed on Friday. Enenche in a statement said the troops tracked the assailants to a makeshift camp at the outskirt of Arufu in neighbouring Taraba State where they were killed during an exchange of gunfire.
Ayooluwa Joshua