Nigerian warplanes killed at least 60 gunmen in a three-day operation over Niger State this week, the air force said on Friday, touting the strikes as a major blow against the bandit gangs terrorising the country’s northwest and north-central regions.
The sorties, flown under “Operation FANSAN YAMMA Sector 1”, hit hideouts around the Kakihun and Kumbashi communities after intelligence indicated militants were planning fresh raids and cattle thefts, Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame said.
Jets carried out “multiple waves of precision strikes” between Tuesday and Thursday, destroying weapons dumps and supply trucks while ground troops moved in to prevent survivors from regrouping, he added.
Ejodame did not give a death toll, but three military sources told Reuters the air and ground forces counted roughly 60 bandits killed.
President Bola Tinubu, who has ordered security forces to crush the criminal networks or force them to surrender, said the offensive showed “the decisive will of the Nigerian state.”
Bandit attacks—marked by village massacres, highway kidnappings and livestock rustling—have killed thousands and displaced more than half a million people in recent years, according to government figures.