Not less than 16 top commanders of the Boko Haram sect have been killed by airstrikes carried out by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Super Tucano fighter jet in the Banki border area of Bama local government area of Borno State.
The airstrikes were carried out against the terrorists on November 16 and 17, following an intelligence-led aerial and ground-coordinated military operations by troops in the border areas with Cameroon.
A counter-insurgency expert, in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, in a report on Saturday in Maiduguri, said the terrorists suffered a devastating loss as many of its leaders in the axis were taken out.
“Boko Haram has suffered another devastating loss of its foot soldiers in the coordinated joint military operations in the border areas of Banki,” Makama said.
“The neutralised terrorists had been hibernating in the Chongolo and Tangalanga border communities with Cameroon, 134 kilometres east of Maiduguri, the state capital.
“The bombs from the detailed attack Super Tucano Aircraft accurately hit on the target and this led to the obliteration of 16 of the terrorists and their motorcycles.
“The operation was conducted pursuant to credible intelligence reports indicating that the settlement was one of the locations being used by the fighters.
“The terrorists used the settlements as their staging locations to attack nearby military bases and soft targets in Banki border areas with Cameroon,” he said.
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