Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Super Tucano fighter jets have killed an unconfirmed number of Boko Haram terrorists at the Ali Ngulde camp, in the Mandara Hills area of Gwoza Local Council, Borno State.
During the airstrikes, strategic human and material capacities of the terrorists were targeted, including a hideout camp and commanders of the group.
A counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, disclosed, yesterday, in Maiduguri that scores of the terrorists were killed on June 6, 2023, while others fled into caves of the Mandara Mountains.
He said those that fled into the caves included Ngulde, the Amir Jaysh, and other top Boko Haram commanders.
On destruction of the camp, Makama, said: “The fighter jets fired several bombs and destroyed over a dozen buildings.”
He said a red-roofed house with Boko Haram flag that concealed Ngulde was also torched in the airstrikes.
A military source in Maiduguri, also confirmed that Ngulde and one Muke escaped unhurt, while scores of the terrorists were neutralised.
It added that the coordinated joint aerial and ground operations were similar to the ones carried out on an Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) convoy in the Aulum-Kafa axis.
According to the military, an unconfirmed number of terrorists were killed in their convoy, whole two gun trucks were destroyed.
Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, had launched an offensive Air Operation, nicknamed: Operation Warun III.
The operation cuts across theatres of operation, with the air component of Operation Hadin Kai expected to flush out remnants of terrorists from Sambisa forest and Mandara Hills.
Amao said Operation Warun III reaffirms the military’s offensive air support for the ongoing Operation Desert and Lake Sanity II.
He added that this includes the ongoing Operation Mountain Sanity (OMS) in Gwoza.
