The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Monday says the Air Task Force of “ Operation “Lafiya Dole” has been conducting successful massive day and night attacks against remnants of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) and their facilities, near Arra in Borno.
Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
Daramola, an Air Commodore, explained that the attacks, which were preceded by days of intensive Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, were planned and executed based on credible intelligence indicating that the BHTs were making moves to regroup around the fringes of Sambisa.
”The first air strike was a daytime mission executed on August 10 at a location 4.5 Km Northwest of Arra around the fringes of Sambisa, where ISR had confirmed that BHTs were regrouping to launch attacks against our troops in the general area.
”Accordingly, the ATF detailed an Alpha Jet to attack the location. Overhead the area of interest, the Alpha Jet acquired and engaged targets, destroying parts of the settlement and neutralizing several BHTs.
”Intelligence reports later revealed that some of the surviving BHTs had converged at another location 4.8Km West of Arra.
”Consequently, the ATF deployed Mi-35M helicopter gunships for a night attack on the new location on Aug. 18 resulting in the death of dozens of BHTs, ” he said
