The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), on Tuesday, said its Air Task Force (ATF) for Operation Diran Mikiya destroyed the camp of a bandit’s kingpin, one Alhaji Lawal, neutralizing up to twenty of his fighters near Rugu Forest in Zamfara State.
The spokesman of the Air Force, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, in a statement, said this was accomplished in a dawn attack on 26 April, after credible intelligence indicated that the kingpin was camped, along with dozens of his fighters at a settlement about four kilometres west of Rugu Forest.
Daramola said Lawal also keeps his logistics supplies, coordinates operations and launches attacks against security forces and civilians from the camp.
He said, following detailed confirmatory Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, the ATF dispatched one Alpha Jet and an attack helicopter to strike the camp.
Daramola said the Alpha Jet strikes recorded direct hits on the camp, destroying the armed bandits’ structures, fuel storage containers, arms, explosives and other logistics supplies, which were seen engulfed in flames.
He added that the attack helicopter carried out mop-up attacks on the target, noting that no fewer than twenty armed bandits were neutralized in the air strikes.
He said the NAF, working with surface forces and other security agencies will sustain its operations to flush the bandits out of the Northwest of the country.
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