TheCable

The Nigeria air force says it has destroyed a Boko Haram camp in an air strike in northern Borno.

Ayodele Famuyiwa, air force spokesman, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

The latest operation is coming 10 days after the military announced that it killed 300 insurgents, and wounded Abubakar Shekau, their leader, in an air raid on Sambisa forest.

“The Nigerian air force (NAF), during a night operation conducted yesterday, successfully destroyed a new Boko Haram Terrorist (BHT) camp located between Malam Fatori and Kangarwa in northern Borno,” Famuyiwa said.

“The new camp is about 4-6km away from the BHT location attacked earlier on 20 August 2016 by NAF Mi-17 helicopter within the same vicinity in a similar night operation that led to the death of about 300 insurgents. The post-strike battle damage assessment (BDA) mission had revealed that surviving BHTs converged at the new location.

“The information was later confirmed to be true by series of follow-up intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions that led to the latest strike. Recall that the general area around Malam Fatori and Kangarwa is infested with BHTs hence the need to clear the remnants of BHT in the area.”

Famuyiwa said that the air assault was expected to further degrade the capability of the insurgents while fostering the creation of the necessary enablement for ground troops to operate.

“Meanwhile, NAF Alpha Jets have helped to repel an attack by BHTs on troops of 153 battalion who were on fighting patrol at Ala Lumshe,” he added.

“The troops, on Saturday 27 August 2016, had come under attack from BHTs about 4km south of Marte when the Alpha Jets were called-in to dislodge the insurgents.”