Sources close to the operation disclosed that many motorcycles and firearms were recovered.
It came barely a week after the bandits ambushed and killed four soldiers in a forest near Birane village in Zurmi. Another source told our correspondent that hundreds of rustled cows and dozens of rifles were recovered during the operation.
A resident of Gidan Jaja told Daily Trust that they noticed movement of troops with heavy weapons and many bodies were seen after the operation.
A statement signed by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, also said in Abuja yesterday that troops of Operation Hadarin Daji supported by the 35 Battalion and Quick Response Group of the 17 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, two helicopter gunships of the Nigerian Air Force, and the police attacked and neutralised bandits in Gidan Jaja, Zamfara State on April 25, and recovered arms and ammunition from them. He said 89 bandits were killed and many of them escaped with gunshot wounds.
Enenche added that the troops rescued five kidnap victims and recovered 322 rustled cows, 77 motorcycles and nine cell phones. He said a formal handover of the kidnapped victims and rustled cows would be carried out after due process.
