Fighter plane shot down by ‘bandits’

Heavily armed criminals, generally referred to by Nigerian authorities as bandits – “thugs” or “bandits” – shot down a light Alpha Jet (Dassault / Dornier) bomber in northwestern Nigeria, the Air Force said in a statement. his pilot survived.

The plane “was returning from a successful mission” against “bandits” when it received “heavy enemy fire” which “caused it to crash in the state of Zamfara”, the Nigerian General Aviation Staff explained in a statement.

“Fortunately, the courageous pilot (…) managed to make use of his ejection seat” and be saved, the text adds.

“Thanks to his survival instinct, the pilot, who was the target of heavy fire and on the ground by the bandits, was able to escape them and resorted to a nearby community.” He then moved “in the direction of a military base” where he was finally able to reach “safe”.

On May 11, officers, including a senior, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Atahirou, were killed when their plane crashed amid bad weather in the neighboring province of Cantuna.

The president Muhammad Bukhari, a former general, in power since 2015, receives more fiercest criticism for its inability to guarantee security in the most populous country in Africa, which is caught in the grip of multiple simultaneous crises in this field.

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Northwestern and central Nigeria has been a hotbed of gang attacks for nearly a decade. who loot, kill, burn houses and kidnap for ransom for .

The army recently deployed reinforcements, including Air Force fighters, to the area to put an end to the activities of “bandits”, who since the end of last year have been increasingly kidnapping pupils or students to ransom.

The criminals have base camps in the Rugo forest, which extends to the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Cantuna and Niger.

This is the first time that “bandits” have been able to shoot down a fighter jet. The jihadist group Boko Haram, which is based in northeastern Nigeria, announced that it had shot down another Alpha Jet in April.

The Nigerian army is increasingly relying on the air force to deal with the gangs, conducting operations day and night. He claims that he has “neutralized” – that is, killed – hundreds of criminals in the last two weeks. But this claim is impossible to confirm from independent sources.

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