ABUJA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian military on Sunday confirmed several bandits were killed in an airstrike in the country's northwestern state of Kaduna.

The operation took place in a forest at the Kuzo area of the state on Saturday, John Enenche, the spokesman for the military, said in a statement.

Enenche said a military attack helicopter that was deployed for the operation had sighted the bandits in an open patch along the east-west axis of the forest, but declined to give the exact figure of the bandits killed.

The bandits who had wreaked havoc in the state and around the northwest region of the country were attempting to move hundreds of rustled livestock through the Kuzo area when the military's airstrikes hit them, he added.

Banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities have recently become rampant in that region. Enditem