The air component of Operation Fasan Yamma has killed scores of bandits in a series of coordinated air strikes on Makakkari Forest, Zamfara State.
In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja, the Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, confirmed the operation.
He explained that Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) identified the movement of over 400 bandits preparing to attack a farming community.
The military launched precision air strikes and ground assaults, eliminating several notorious kingpins and many of their foot soldiers. Ejodame noted that the synergy between air and land forces made the mission exceptionally effective.
For years, armed groups—locally referred to as “bandits”—have terrorised communities in north-west and central Nigeria, raiding villages, abducting residents for ransom, and burning homes after looting them.
Cattle rustling and kidnapping have become lucrative criminal enterprises in the largely impoverished countryside, with some groups imposing levies on farmers and artisanal miners.
The violence has worsened a malnutrition crisis in the region, as persistent attacks drive residents from their farms. This situation has been aggravated by climate change and cuts in western aid.
Despite military deployment since 2015 and the formation of a militia force by the Zamfara State Government two years ago, the insecurity persists.
In July, Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed gang in Niger State through a combination of ground combat and air strikes.
Motivated primarily by financial gain, many of these bandits have increased their collaboration with jihadist groups waging a separate insurgency in the north-east.