NAF destroys armed bandits’ camp, kills scores in Zamfara

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

The Nigerian Air Force said its Air Component of Operation HADARIN DAJI has degraded a camp and neutralized scores of armed bandits in air strikes conducted at a location near Dangote Village in Zamfara State.
The Air Force in a statement issued yesterday by its Director of Public Relations and Information, Ibikunle Daramola said the operations was in continuation of operations aimed at rooting out armed bandits from their safe havens within the various forests in the Northwest of Nigeria.
He said the operation, which took place at dawn on 16 June 2019, was executed based on credible human intelligence (HUMINT) reports indicating that some armed bandit leaders had assembled for an overnight meeting in a cluster of huts at the location to plan for attacks against nearby communities.
“Consequently, after confirmatory Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), the Air Component dispatched 2 Alpha Jets and an attack helicopter to strike the location.
“Overhead the target area, some armed bandits were seen near the huts, while others were spotted in the surrounding bushes. The Alpha Jet attacked the location in successive passes, neutralizing the bandits in the surrounding bushes in the first few passes and destroying 2 of the huts housing the key leaders, which were seen engulfed in flames, in the fourth pass. Some surviving bandits, who were firing at the attack platforms while attempting to flee the location, were mopped-up in follow-on attacks by the helicopter.”
The statement added that the NAF, working in consonance with other security agencies, will sustain its operations to flush the bandits out of the Northwest of the Country.