LAGOS, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Scores of armed bandits lost their lives following a series of airstrikes conducted by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in troubled northwest Zamfara state, an official said Monday.
The recent air interdiction and armed reconnaissance missions conducted from Aug. 9 to Aug. 11 resulted in the neutralization of the bandits, Ibikunle Daramola, NAF spokesperson said in a statement reaching Xinhua.
Daramola added that the mission was initiated based on credible intelligence that a location on the fringes of Rugu Forest near Ajia, in the eastern part of Zamfara State, was being used by the bandits as a logistics staging area for the supply of arms and ammunition.
According to him, a fighter aircraft and helicopter gunship were dispatched to attack the location within the forest.
He said the military operation, which commenced on July 31 is an intensive air operation aimed at locating and neutralizing armed bandits with a view to stopping killings, cattle rustling and other criminal activities in the northwest.
There have been chronic problem of recurring incidents of livestock rustling and armed banditry in the northwest region of Nigeria. The west African country at the same time suffers the violence of Boko Haram terrorist attacks in the northeast region, although the government declared in 2015 that the insurgents have been "technically defeated."
