NAF AIRSTRIKES KILL SCORES OF BANDITS, NOTORIOUS KINGPINS IN ZAMFARA
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
Scores of armed bandits, including several notorious kingpins, have been killed in a series of coordinated air strikes by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) under Operation Fasan Yamma, targeting Makakkari Forest in Zamfara State.
The Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
According to Ejodame, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) confirmed the movement of over 400 bandits preparing to attack a farming community. The operation, he said, combined precision airstrikes with ground assaults, leading to significant neutralisation of the armed groups.
“The synergy between air and land components made the operation exceptional,” Ejodame noted.
For years, armed groups known locally as “bandits” have terrorised communities in northwest and central Nigeria, raiding villages, kidnapping residents for ransom, and destroying homes after looting. They are also involved in cattle rustling and imposing illegal levies on farmers and artisanal miners.
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The persistent violence has worsened food insecurity and malnutrition in the region, as attacks force residents from their farmlands a crisis compounded by climate change and reduced foreign aid.
Despite sustained military operations since 2015 and the creation of a local militia force by the Zamfara State Government two years ago, insecurity in the region has persisted. In July, troops killed at least 95 members of another armed gang in Niger State through combined ground and air offensives.
Security sources warn that bandits, largely motivated by ransom payments, are increasingly cooperating with jihadist groups waging an insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast.
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