The Nigerian Air Force has again claimed that it has recorded a signigicant milestone in the ongoing battle against the Boko Haram sect.
The Air Force Director of Public Relations and Information, Ayodele Famuyiwa, in a statement on Tuesday claimed the Air Force ‘killed’ about 300 Boko Haram members during a recent aerial bombardments of their locations in the North-East.
The Army spokesman, Colonel Sani Usman had on Monday claimed that a NAF jet ‘killed’ three Boko Haram top commanders on Friday and ‘fatally wounded’ its leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Members of the public however described this as a curious claim since that was not the first time the Army had claimed to have killed or seriously wounded Shekau.
In the military latest claim, Famuyiwa said: “The current phase of intensified air operations over Northern Borno paid-off on the night of 19 August 2016 when the NAF, during an air attack, killed about 300 BHTs who had gathered to hold a meeting at a location between Malam Fatori and own troops location at Kangarwa.
“Prior to this fateful day the NAF, on 16 August 2016, had commenced series of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions to corroborate human intelligence that key BHT commanders gather at the said location to hold meeting at night.
“The objective of the on-going operation, as usual, is to degrade the capability of the insurgents, particularly those who have fled to the northern part of Borno.”
In a similar development, the army also on Tuesday claimed that it repelled attack on the location of its troops near Sambisa forest.
“Troops on Operation LAFIYA DOLE stationed at Darul Jamel, on the fringes of Sambisa forest, northern parts of Borno State, yesterday evening successfully repelled an attempted attack on their location by remnants of Boko Haram terrorists,” the spokesperson for the army, Sani Usman, said in a statement.
“The terrorists attempted to storm the troops location at about 10.00pm, but paid dearly as the troops killed several of them including two senior commanders that led the attack.
“The troops recovered one Light Machine Gun (LMG) with Registration number 56M-1101229, 1 AK-47 Rifle Magazine, Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Bomb and 1 top cover of an AK-47 Rifle. Other items recovered include 395 Rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition and 15 rounds of 5.5mm by .45 ammunition.
“Prior to the attack, the troops of the same unit on routine patrol earlier, had cleared an ambush staged by elements of the suspected remnants of the terrorists desperate for food near Banki Junction.
“It is equally believed that the attack and ambush might not be unconnected to the fact that the terrorists were desperately targeting over 890 rescued herdsmen with their 5000 livestock being held captives by terrorists along Nigerian borders with Cameroon,”the statement read in part.
