April 17, 2018

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole has  successfully destroyed some Boko Haram vehicles at a location about 12km East of Arege in the Lake Chad region.

AVM Olatokunbo Adesanya, NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, who confirmed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja said the operation was carried out on April 13.

“Earlier on, a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft had discovered Boko Haram activities, with some vehicles mounted with guns moving within the location.

“Accordingly, the ATF detailed NAF Mi-35M Helicopter gunships to conduct Air Interdiction strikes to take out the targets.

“Overhead the location, the attack platform acquired, interdicted and neutralised the targets with rockets and cannons.

“The subsequent Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) revealed that at the end of the attack, a Boko Haram gun truck, with its entire occupants, was completely destroyed and engulfed in fire,” he said.

Adesanya said that another terrorists’ vehicle was damaged and immobilised as a result of the attack, while several insurgents were killed in the process.

“The NAF continues to provide adequate air support through the ATF of Operation Lafiya Dole by conducting a range of air operations to create the necessary environment for ground operations to continue apace,” he said.