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Air force planes pound bandit hideouts in Zamfara

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Sunday said its attack planes destroyed the hide-outs of bandits in Shamshale and Rugu forest in Zamfara State. The…

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Sunday said its attack planes destroyed the hide-outs of bandits in Shamshale and Rugu forest in Zamfara State.

The Air Force ‘Operation Diran Mikiya’ comprises of the Air Task Force (ATF) component of ongoing ‘Operation Sharan Daji’ in the North West part of the country to tackle banditry.

The Air Force spokesman, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola in a statement said the Air Operation on 15 and 18 August 2018, degraded several identified hideouts of the bandits.

 He said the attacks, which were executed in support of ground troops in Sector two of Operation Sharan Daji were planned based on credible intelligence that the armed bandits were using an abandoned primary school in Shamashale.

He said the bandits were also using some makeshift settlements in nearby Rugu forest in the Eastern part of Zamfara as bases for their operations.

Daramola explained that the attack at Shamashale was conducted on 15 August 2018, following further confirmatory Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions that revealed the presence of several armed bandits in the area.

He said, “The ATF dispatched two combat helicopters to attack the location. During the attack, some bandits carrying sophisticated high caliber weapons were seen trying to flee the area.”

“Some were on motorcycles carrying AK-47 rifles and, rather than dropping their weapons and surrendering, attempted to shoot at the helicopters; hence they were neutralized,” he added.

He said Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) conducted on 16 August 2018 confirmed that the hideout had been severely degraded.

He said, “Items recovered from the armed bandits include two General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs), two AK 47 rifles, 100 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and two mobile phones.”

“The adjoining settlement camps within Rugu Forest, which had earlier been confirmed by human intelligence sources to be inhabited by only bandits, were attacked on 18 August 2018,” he added.

 He said, “A ground attack aircraft and two combat helicopters struck the camps in successive waves; first targeting the shelters and then executing follow-on attacks to ensure the threat posed to the local villagers was adequately dealt with.”

Daramola said the ATF will continue to dominate the area through armed reconnaissance and air interdiction missions to completely decimate the armed bandits in order to ensure a return to normalcy in Zamfara and other States in the North West.

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