Nigeria’s military authorities on Monday confirmed that one of its aircraft crashed in Zamfara on Sunday. The confirmation was made by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Major General Lucky Irabor. The aircraft came down under enemy fire from bandits. It was gathered that the Alpha Jet which was on an ‘interdiction mission’ to flush out bandits in the forest bordering Kaduna and Zamfara States, came under heavy attack from the criminals leading to its crash. In a statement by the Director of Public Relations and Information of the NAF, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, on Monday and made available to Ripples Nigeria, the pilot of the ill-fated jet, Flight Lieutenant Abayomi Dairo, managed to escape from the crashed jet and the ground attacks from the bandits and made his way to a military camp where he was rescued. The statement signed by Gabkwet reads: “On 18 July, 2021, at about 12.45 pm, a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet aircraft, returning from a successful air interdiction mission between the boundaries of Zamfara and Kaduna State, came under intense enemy fire which led to its crash in Zamfara State.