On Wednesday, 10th April 2019, Air Task Force (ATF) of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) under its code name "Operation Diran Mikiya" disclosed to have destroyed about eight (8) hideouts of bandits in Zamfara State. According to a statement released by the NAF through its spokesman, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, the air strikes which were intensified on 8 April 2019 with the deployment of additional aircrafts are aimed at flushing out the bandits out of the Zamfara-Katsina and Kaduna axis.
He made known that reliable intelligence indicated that the hideouts were in Sububu, Rugu and Kagara Forests, amongst other enclaves of the bandits.
Daramola added that the deployment of the air platforms was also to ensure the protection of the lives and properties of citizens in the Northwest of the Country. During the strike, on the first day of the intensive operation, the ATF conducted coordinated air raids against multiple identified armed bandits’ hideouts at Doumborou, Sububu, West Malamawa, Baturia Pond and Rugu Forest where several bandits were neutralized and their camps totally destroyed.
The statement further informed that on 9th April 2019, the ATF conducted waves of attacks against several targets. The first wave struck three armed bandits’ locations within Sububu Forest as well as another camp in Kagara Forest.
Moreover, Daramola stressed that the coordinated attacks at the identified targets in the second wave of ATF operation hit notable armed bandits’ hideouts at Kamarawa, Kunduma, and Tsamare Hill, while the third wave of the attacks centered on armed bandits’ hideouts in Doumborou. Adding that, all the attacks ended successfully.
