4th January, 2020
Scores of Boko Haram terrorists holding a meeting in Sambisa Forest have been killed via airstrikes by a jet of the Nigerian Air Force.
NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, said that the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole recorded the success near Bula Bello on New Year’s day.
Daramola said that a NAF Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft was returning from a mission when it spotted a gun truck of the insurgents under a tree with scores of Boko Haram fighters gathered around the tree on the outskirts of the settlement.
He said they were preparing for an attack against nearby troops’ positions.
According to the air commodore, some of the insurgents were also seen in a declassified short video clip pushing another vehicle to a location under another tree in the area.
He revealed that the ATF subsequently scrambled its attack aircraft to engage the location, neutralising some of the terrorists in the process.
“Follow-on attacks were also carried out to take out some locations within Bula Bello where the BHTs were tracked to.
“The jets took turns attacking the target area killing more of the BHTs and destroying some of their structures,” the statement said.
The NAF spokesman stressed that the air force would sustain its efforts to completely destroy all remnants of the terrorists in the North East, working in concert with surface forces.