The dreaded Sambisa forest has come under a unprecedented aerial bombardment as the Nigerian Air force intensified the bombardment of forest classified as the hideout of the terrorists, killing scores in the process. The aerial attack was to pave the way for terrestrial onslaught by the military in the coming days to flush out the remnants of the terrorists in the area.
The operation code-named ‘Forest Storm’, involved the deployment of fighter aircraft such as the F-7 Supersonic attack jets, surveillance aircraft and Mi-35 helicopter gunships. The Director of Air force Public Relations, Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa, confirmed the ‘round the clock’ bombardment. He said the strike would continue until the terrorists’ locations in the forest were sufficiently degraded.
“We will leave no stone unturned until we accomplish our mission to flush out the bad elements,” he said.
“The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), in the past one week, has successfully struck a number of Boko Haram Terrorist (BHT) locations, including their logistics bases within the Sambisa Forest.
“The air interdiction missions were conducted day and night using a combination of combat platforms comprising F-7Ni fighter aircraft, Alpha Jets and Mi-24V helicopter gunship.
“The latest air strikes against the Boko Haram terrorists are fall-outs of ‘Operation Forest Storm’ launched by the NAF on 2 October 2016 to further degrade the capability of the BHT elements within the Sambisa general area in order to create the enabling environment for own ground forces to continue their operation.
“From Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), it appears the insurgents are low on logistics as no vehicle was seen moving.
“Furthermore, Battle Damage Assessment showed that the entire operation was a success even as human intelligence confirmed that a number of the insurgents were killed,” Famuyiwa said.
The latest aerial charge from the Air Force is one in a series of strategies by the military to finally degrade the sect in the entire north east zone.
