NAF Special Force NAF Jets, Helicopter Shell Zamfara Bandits in Merciless Operation OPERATION DIRAN MIKIYA has recorded some early successes, as Nigerian Air Force (NAF) combat aircraft neutralized several armed bandits during air attacks near Mashema Village and at another location 4km Southeast of Yanmari, both in Zamfara State.
Accordingly, a NAF Alpha Jet aircraft from Katsina and an Mi-35M from Gusau were scrambled. In close coordination with troops on the ground, the combat aircraft engaged the bandits’ location with rockets and cannons neutralizing several of them and causing a few survivors to scamper in different directions. The 2 aircraft subsequently pursued the fleeing bandits and thereafter neutralized them in follow-up attacks.
Similarly, while on armed reconnaissance on 2 August 2018, a NAF combat helicopter located over twenty armed bandits dressed in black attire with stolen cattle in their custody, in an open field near Yankari and Hayin Alhaji villages. The bandits, a few of whom were mounted on motorcycles, began to disperse on hearing the sound of the helicopter but were engaged by the helicopters’ machine guns.
Several armed bandits were neutralized in the air attack while a few survivors, seen fleeing the location, were taken out in subsequent follow-up attacks.