NAF airstrikes kill scores of bandits in Zamfara State

Scores of bandits have been killed in a series of coordinated airstrikes carried out by the air component of Operation Fasan Yamma in Makakkari Forest, Zamfara State.

The Director of Public Relations and Information for the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja. He explained that Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance detected the movement of over 400 bandits preparing to attack a farming community.

According to Ejodame, the operation combined precision airstrikes with ground assaults, leading to the elimination of several notorious kingpins and many of their fighters. “The synergy between air and land components made the operation exceptional,” he stated.

For years, armed groups known locally as bandits have terrorised communities in northwest and central Nigeria, attacking villages, kidnapping residents for ransom, and looting before burning homes. They also engage in cattle rustling, impose levies on farmers and artisanal miners, and have contributed to worsening food shortages by forcing people off their farms.

The ongoing violence has deepened the malnutrition crisis in the northwest, with climate change and cuts in western aid further complicating the situation.

Despite the military’s presence since 2015 and the establishment of a militia force by Zamfara State two years ago, the attacks have persisted. In July, Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed gang during a clash involving airstrikes in Niger State.

Bandits, largely driven by financial motives, have increasingly collaborated with jihadist groups involved in the insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast.