Abuja — The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has intensified nationwide counter-terrorism and anti-banditry operations with precision airstrikes that neutralised scores of Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists and destroyed multiple hideouts across Borno, Kwara, and Katsina States.
The latest operations, according to NAF spokesperson Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, were conducted on November 9 under Operation Hadin Kai and Operation Fasan Yamma, aimed at degrading terrorist and criminal networks in Nigeria’s northern regions.
In Borno State, air interdiction missions targeted ISWAP camps in Mallam Fatori and Shuwaram, where insurgents were mobilising with motorcycles and boats. The strikes, guided by real-time intelligence and surveillance, destroyed logistics hubs and weapons depots, eliminating numerous fighters.
Similarly, NAF aircraft carried out coordinated attacks on bandit enclaves in Garin Dandi and Chigogo, Kwara State, and on Zango Hill in Katsina’s Kankara LGA, killing several terrorists and crippling their operational capacity.
Ejodame noted that the missions demonstrated “renewed precision and lethality,” consistent with directives from the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, to intensify smart, intelligence-driven air power in support of ground forces.
In a related move, the FCT Police Command, in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS), local hunters, and vigilante groups, has launched special patrols around churches and border communities linking Kaduna and Niger States.
The patrols, according to police spokesperson SP Josephine Adeh, are meant to deter criminals and protect worshippers during the festive season.
Meanwhile, insecurity persists in parts of the North-West, as four nursing mothers were reportedly kidnapped in Shanono LGA, Kano State. Community leader Yahaya Bagobiri said the bandits invaded Yan Kwada village, abandoning the victims’ babies before fleeing with their mothers and livestock.
In Nasarawa State, Governor Abdullahi Sule has ordered a manhunt for gunmen responsible for a midnight attack in Keana LGA, vowing swift justice. His Kebbi counterpart, Governor Nasir Idris, however, declared that “no inch” of the state remains under bandit control.
Adding to regional instability, over 100 fighters were killed in a bloody clash between Boko Haram’s Jam’at Ahl as-Sunna lid-Da‘wa wa’l-Jihd (JAS) faction and ISWAP at Toumbun Gini, Abadam LGA, near the Niger Republic border.
Security experts believe the infighting between terrorist factions presents an opportunity for the Nigerian military to consolidate its offensive and dismantle the groups’ strongholds across the Lake Chad Basin.
Across the North, the All Progressives Governors Forum has urged traditional rulers to invoke cultural and spiritual measures to complement ongoing federal efforts in tackling insecurity. Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, who made the call, said, “Every hand—modern and traditional—must rise to defend the nation.”
