The fight against bandits in Plateau State is yielding positive results, the military task force in charge of maintaining peace in the state has said.
Major Ishaku Takwa, the spokesman for Operation Safe Haven, while speaking in Jos on Monday after the troops of the taskforce killed eight bandits in a clearance operation which they carried out in Wase Local Government Area on Sunday, assured that a situation where the bandits would chase locals and force them to vacate their communities would henceforth no longer be tolerated in any part of the state.
He explained that the activities of the bandits had caused the loss of lives and properties, particularly in the rural areas.
He said that the clearance operation against the bandits which started last Saturday would continue until the bandits are completely defeated and sanity is restored.
“Our men, in conjunction with the local hunters, conducted a clearance operation in Sabongari general area of Wase LGA. The exercise started on Saturday, and on Sunday, eight of the bandits were killed during the operation,” he explained.
Major Takwa stated that in the past, they had done similar exercises and the people were going about their normal businesses, regretting that it appeared the bandits have regrouped and are disturbing the peace of the locals.
He reiterated that the troops are going to continue with the clearance operation until they clear the communities in Wase and other areas of the presence of the bandits.
The spokesman sought the support of the people to enable the military task force to achieve its objectives of freeing the communities of terrorists.
He assured that they have established Field Operational Base in Wase and also discovered that some locals are also conniving with the bandits to sabotage their efforts.
He stated that some of them who have infiltrated the communities also act as informants to the bandits, stressing that these are some of the challenges, but are not relenting because all they need is information.
Major Takwa explained that they have asked the local communities to fish out the bad elements in their midst and also give the security timely information for them to protect the people, assuring that their efforts in the fight against bandits in the state are yielding positive results.