Scores Killed As Nigerian Air Force, Army, Battle Terrorists In Zamfara

Scores of people, including gallant security officers, were reportedly killed in a recent confrontation with terrorists in Zamfara State.

Reports obtained by Naija News revealed that men of the Nigerian Air Force and Army engaged terrorists recently in Malele village, in the Dansadau Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

It was reported that Air Force men, during a series of airstrikes undertaken by the air component of Operation Hadarin Daji, neutralized the terrorists at their hideouts in the village.

The military is said to have mobilized troops and fighter jets for the attack on December 17, 2022. The troops, according to reports, recorded a major victory after hitting terrorists causing unrest in different parts of the state.

The report said the bandits, while attempting to escape from the airstrikes, ran into Mutunji village, adding that over 40 of them were killed.

The terrorists, angered by the development, reportedly launched a reprisal and laid a siege to a military convoy en route to Malele and opened fire.

“Luckily, no life was lost except a soldier, who sustained an injury. The soldier is positively responding to treatment,” the report said.

Other sources who confirmed the event to The PUNCH said terrorists’ kingpins — Halilu Jan Buzu, Turji and Adamu Aleiru, are making efforts to reinforce their colleagues on the battlefield after the devastating airstrikes.

“Halilu Buzu’s boys, in particular, were sighted along Dankurmi on their way to Malele, while those of Adamu Aleiru were seen at Yar Gada, a border between Dansadau and Gusau Emirates, waiting for sunrise to move to the battleground,” one of the sources noted.

However, an indigene of Mutunji village in the Maru LGA of Zamfara State, Musa Abubakar, told reporters that the bandits killed at least ten soldiers in a confrontation.

According to him, the soldiers were on their way to Mutunji to complement the Air Force in bombarding the bandits, adding that some bandits, who lurked at a spot on the road, ambushed them.

He explained further that the bandits, immediately after sighting the soldiers, came out of their hideout and opened fire, killing 10 of them on the spot.

He said, “The bandits, after killing the soldiers, and sighting the fighter jet, rushed to Mutunji village and hid in the market where many people were busy transacting their business.

“When the fighter jet arrived in the village, it dropped a bomb and 68 locals were killed while several others were seriously injured and taken to a hospital for treatment.”

Another who identified himself as Sa’idu Ishaka told the news platform that he was in the market when the bomb was dropped by the fighter jet, adding that he narrowly escaped death.

Ishaka, who accompanied some injured persons to Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, said bandits came to their village in large numbers.

“When the aircraft approached the village, we just heard a heavy sound in the market, and many shops went in flames. I narrowly escaped being killed but I saw several dead bodies in front of me.

“I was among the people who took part in burying 68 persons who were killed by the bomb blast,” he added.

A journalist who visited the Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau, claimed he saw the dead bodies of the ten soldiers being conveyed to a mortuary by the hospital staff.

The dead bodies were brought in an ambulance by the military around 3 pm on Monday, he said.

The state Commissioner on Security, DIG Mamman Tsafe (retd), who visited the hospital to see the slain soldiers and the injured persons, described the incident as “most unfortunate”.

Tsafe sympathized with the families of the soldiers and those injured. He said: “The incident happened at a time when the security situation is considered to be improving”.