ABUJA: Nigerian forces have killed 78 gunmen, known locally as bandits, during military operations including air strikes in northwestern Zamfara state, the air force said.
Heavily-armed bandits have wracked northwest and central Nigeria for years, but the groups have recently stepped up attacks on schools, kidnapping hundreds of students for ransom and prompting a military response.
"On 2 August 2021, Nigerian Air Force... locked on armed bandits on bikes moving into Kwiambana Forest Reserves (in Zamfara state)... over 78 bandits were neutralized, and their camps destroyed," air force spokesman Edward Gabkwet said in a statement late on Thursday.
The bandits were tracked to "extensive and well concealed camps with numerous huts" that were destroyed by the air force, the statement added, "in liaison with ground troops forming blocking forces around the targeted areas of the forest."