Minister of Defence Mohammed Badaru Abubakar has highlighted the risks of bombing bandit hideouts, saying some of them are located in forests that bombs cannot penetrate.
According to The Sun, Badaru, who spoke in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, stated that the Armed Forces are close to ending banditry in the country despite the recent wave of school abductions.
While acknowledging the persistence of security challenges, he described the current pattern of attacks as characteristic of guerrilla tactics, where criminal groups strike intermittently to instil fear.
“This is how guerrilla warfare works. There will be periods of calm, and then they launch an attack that shakes the nation.
“Yes, we know their locations, but some of these areas are places where direct strikes could endanger civilians, or forests where our bombs cannot penetrate,” Badaru said.
“We never said the problem was completely over. But this renewed kidnapping of schoolchildren worries us. We are studying what went wrong and how to prevent a recurrence,” he added.
