Reports making the rounds that notorious bandit kingpin, Bello Turji, has been killed by a United States airstrike are false.
Findings by Zagazola Fact Check indicate that Turji is alive and currently taking refuge at Dubagale, north of Dan Adama village, in Sabon Birni in Sokoto located, about 25 kilometres from the border with the Niger Republic.
The reports are entirely unfounded. Bello Turji was not killed in any airstrike. He is alive and has relocated to Dubagale, close to the Niger border.
The viral claims were likely fueled by misinformation and recycled narratives surrounding intensified counter-banditry operations in parts of north-western Nigeria.
Bello Turji, a long-wanted bandit leader operating mainly in Zamfara and neighbouring states, has been linked to several deadly attacks, mass abductions and large-scale displacement of communities in the region.
