Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Nigerian Air Force said its personnel on counter-insurgency operations in the North East have bombed another terrorists stronghold and killed many Boko Haram members during an air raid at Tongule, south-west of Dikwa in Borno State.
Director Public Relations and Information of the service, Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya, who made this known, said the air strike was conducted after an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform establish the presence of Boko Haram fighters in the area.
Adesanya, in a statement, said the mission was planned and executed to prevent the terrorists from carrying out attacks against troops’ location in the general area.
The NAF spokesman in the statement said, “The Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation LAFIYA DOLE, on 29 July 2018, successfully conducted a massive attack on Tongule Village, 9km South West of Dikwa in Borno State.
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“The successful air strikes were sequel to a credible intelligence that several Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) were massing up at the location, having occupied the entire village.
“Consequently, the mission was immediately planned and executed to prevent the BHTs from carrying out attacks against troops’ locations in the general area.
“Upon receiving the intelligence, the ATF scrambled NAF Alpha Jet aircraft and Mi-35M helicopter gunships, which subsequently attacked structures occupied by BHT elements in the location with bombs rockets and canons, in quick succession.
“As a result of the air strikes, several BHTs were neutralized in the village while a few survivors, seen fleeing the location, were taken out in subsequent follow-up attacks.
“There was also intensive damage to the settlement as captured by the NAF Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform,” Marshall Adesanya’s statement said.