Airstrikes by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircrafts have killed two bandits kingpins, Gero (Alhaji) and Alhaji Riga, including 20 of their fighters in Zamfara State.
The bandits were killed in their hideouts at Unguwar Goga hillforest in Faskari Local Government Area of the state.
A statement by the Deputy Director of Public Relations and Information, Group Captain Kabiru Ali, said the ‘precision airstrikes were executed in the early hours of 13 March, after careful and actionable intelligence’.
The statement said: ‘The strike, advancing purposeful lethality, destroyed the fortified camps of notorious bandit kingpins, Gero (Alhaji) and Alhaji Riga, neutralising over 20 criminals, with additional casualties reported in the surrounding rocky hills.
‘The airstrike had a decisive impact on the criminals, assessment of the full extent of the damage is ongoing’.
Riga and Gero, according to the statement, were key enablers of banditry, sheltering terrorist elements responsible for relentless ambushes along the Funtua-Gusau road, particularly between Yankara and Sheme villages. Their elimination marks a major breakthrough in the ongoing military campaign to restore peace in the North-West’, the statement said.
