The troops of Operation Fansan Yamma in the North-West killed several terrorists and bandits on Monday, says the Nigerian Army.

In a statement on Tuesday, the army said the operation followed air missions conducted by the Joint Task Force’s air component on Monday.

“The operations dealt a major blow to criminal elements by neutralising several terrorists and disrupting attempted bandit movements within the Joint Operations Area.

“Acting on credible intelligence, corroborated by human intelligence sources, indicating the convergence of over 200 suspected terrorists on motorcycles in the Dogon Dawa axis of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger state, the air component executed a precision airstrike against the terrorists.

“The location was successfully engaged. Battle damage assessment confirmed that several terrorists were neutralised, while others were observed fleeing with injuries towards the Kurugin Maidawa axis. The successful strike significantly disrupted the terrorists’ activities, degraded their operational capability and denied them the freedom to regroup for further attacks,” the statement said.

The army said that in a separate armed reconnaissance mission in Birnin Gwari council area of Kaduna, intelligence indicated that armed bandits were mobilising to launch reprisals against troops following recent clearance operations in the Womba general area.

It said the air component intercepted three motorcycles conveying suspected bandits heading towards the Kamuku Forest. The suspects attempted to evade detection upon sighting the aircraft but were successfully engaged, disrupting their movement.