The Nigerian Air Force (NAN) says its Air Component of Operation HADARIN DAJI, has degraded a camp and neutralised scores of bandits in air strikes conducted at a location near Dangote Village in Zamfara.
Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, said the operation was conducted on Sunday.
He explained that the operation, which took place at dawn on June 16, was executed based on credible human intelligence (HUMINT) reports.
Daramola said reports indicated that some bandit leaders had assembled for an overnight meeting in a cluster of huts at the location to plan attacks against nearby communities.
The statement read: “Consequently, after confirmatory Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) the Air Component dispatched two Alpha Jets and an attack helicopter to strike the location.
“Overhead the target area, some bandits were seen near the huts, while others were spotted in the surrounding bushes.
“The Alpha Jet attacked the location in successive passes, neutralising the bandits in the surrounding bushes in the first few passes and destroying two 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,” he said.
The spokesman said NAF, working in consonance with other security agencies, would sustain its operations to flush the bandits out of the Northwest of the country.