Military offensives targeting key bandit leaders have been ongoing in Zamfara and Katsina states in the last 48 hours.
POLITICS NIGERIA learned that unspecified numbers of bandit casualties have been recorded.
At the weekend, the military offensive rescued a Lieutenant Colonel of the Nigerian Army, N.B. Ahmed, who had been kidnapped in Tsafe.
The senior military officer was abducted along Tsafe (Zamfara)/Funtua (Katsina) road last Friday.
He is the new commanding officer of the 8 Division of the Nigerian Army, Sokoto.
This news medium reports that gangs of heavily armed men, known locally as bandits, have wreaked havoc across northwest Nigeria in the past two years, kidnapping thousands, killing hundreds and making it unsafe to travel by road or farm in some areas.
The attacks have confounded overstretched security forces. The military recently warned residents in Zamfara and two other states to leave forested areas ahead of a bombing campaign targeting bandits and terrorists.
