N’East: Troops in aerial, land bombardments kill 37 terrorists, destroy gunboats

Troops of the Nigerian Army under the Joint Air and Land Components of Operation Hadin Kai have neutralised more than 37 Boko Haram terrorists while the insurgents were converging for a meeting near Sambisa forest in Borno State.

Director of Army Public Relations, Brig General Onyema Nwachukwu, said this in a statement on Sunday.

He said the successful operation began when the vigilant troops observed the movement of six gun trucks within the Sambisa Forest general area, which was subsequently located at a settlement near Yuwe.

He added that the trucks later moved to a remote location, where they were joined by other terrorist elements, in what seemed like a convergence for a meeting.

“Over 50 Boko Haram/ ISWAP fighters were observed to have gathered at the meeting. Having clearly identified the terrorists’ hideout, the Air Component of OPHK immediately dispatched two aircrafts to conduct air interdiction on the location”, he said.

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According to the Army Director Public Relations, the strikes, which were carried out under the cover of darkness, were successful and devastating, noting that battle damage assessment corroborated by local sources revealed that over 37 Boko Haram terrorists were neutralized, while several of them reportedly suffered varying degrees of injury.

In another development, Brig. Gen. Nwachukwu said as the aircraft retreated to base after the air interdiction, the combat air crew located another set of four gun trucks about six Kilometres South-West of Bama.

“The air crew immediately relayed the coordinates of the location of the Gun Trucks to troops of the Land Component at Bama, who promptly engaged the location with Artillery fire bombardment, neutralizing the insurgents’ gun trucks”.

He said the feat in the joint operations was in continuation of onslaught on terrorists’ enclaves by troops under Operation Hadin Kai in the North East. “Troops of OPHK remain resolute and unshaken in their effort to bring the insurgents to their knees”.