New Year early morning airstrikes by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets which killed two bandits’ leaders and over a dozen other bandits operating around Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria is being seen as a big win for Nigeria especially the NAF as it is gradually changing the narrative in the war against banditry in the region.
Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets rained down New Year bombs on terror bandit leaders top on Wanted list – Alhaji Auta, and Kachalla Ruga, killing them and scores of others in a forest in Zamfara State, Northeast Nigeria.
The notorious bandit Commanders, Alhaji Auta, and Kachalla Ruga, died when a NAF aircraft, under Operation Hadarin Daji, acted on credible intelligence, and bombarded their enclaves, at Gusami Forest and Tsamre Village in Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of the State.
Sources confirmed that that Alhaji Auta was killed when the NAF jet dropped a bomb on him as he was being conveyed on a motorcycle from his camp to the location of his herds of cattle, early in the morning. The sustained attacks also claimed the lives of many of his gang around his camp and adjoining areas.
The multiple airstrikes also eliminated Auta and Ruga’s fighters and hardcore followers.
The raid on Auta’s camp is a second major victory recorded by the NAF within the space of a month, after the raid that killed the twin kingpins, Tawaye, in Dumburum in the first week of December.
NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, had on Saturday afternoon confirmed “the very successful raid by Service fighter jets in Zamfara State,” though he refused to be drawn into the identities of those killed in the air bombardment.
But multiple sources which spoke on Auta’s death on Saturday said the bomb that killed the bandits’ leader was dropped on him while riding along Nasarawa Mailayi-Gusami Road.
Though the accounts of what followed after the first airstrike that killed him differed, a resident of Birnin Magaji, who gave his name as Jamilu, said 12 of Auta’s men were eliminated when they rushed to the scene to pick his body.
But two sources however gave the casualty in the second attack as seven, who, they said, were killed after Auta’s funeral.
Aliyu Birnin Magaji, another resident, said the jet returned to the area three times, after killing Auta, including around 9:30pm last night.
“Mourners who had gathered after he was killed were bombed and seven of them were killed. After the jet left, their friends came back to move the bodies but the jet returned and bombed them. Right now no one knows how many were killed as no one is willing to go there,” he said.
Aside Auta, another arrowhead in his group, Kachalla Ruga, was also reported dead.
Auta is among the four arrowheads of the gunmen terrorising the Birnin Magaji area, others being Alhaji Shingi, Alhaji Nashama and Shehu Bagewaye.
Commenting on the operation, a researcher who recently interviewed Auta, James Barnett, described Auta as a “deadly bandit” as he called for a concerted effort on all fronts to consolidate the aftermath.
“He was also a de facto powerbroker in Birnin Magaji. He kept that area from being overrun by other gangs like that of Turji and he had historically been one of the key negotiators in previous amnesty deals in Zamfara State.
“Federal and State governments need to be prepared for handling any fallout of his death, including bandits staging reprisals against local communities, Auta’s gang fracturing, or bandits who had been in amnesty talks withdrawing from these talks. Coordination between State and Federal Governments and all security agencies is needed to ensure that kinetic and non-kinetic actions are in sync and complement each other,” he said.
But sources insist that the military would in the new year intensify its aggressive targeting of terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements until they are destroyed or surrender.
“There is no two ways about it. We are facing and following our operational orders. Our focus is to meet all the operational targets set before us by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is no going back. Be they insurgents, bandits or whatsoever name they have, we are going after them. We are buoyed by the successes we are recording and we are energised to do more.
“The killing of these bandits are major victories for Nigeria, particularly the Armed Forces of Nigerian and the Nigerian Air Force. It is obvious that Nigerians would have much to cheer this year int terms of bringing these criminals to their knees.”