The Nigerian Air Force has claimed to have killed more than 100 suspected terrorists in bombing raids carried out on December 20 in the northeastern state of Borno, where both Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA), operate.
Nigerian Air Force spokesman Edward Gabkwet detailed that the attack was carried out in the village of Mantari, located in the Bama area, adding that the dead included three prominent terrorists identified as Khalid Tukur, Maimusari and Bakura Jega.
He detailed that the operation was carried out following intelligence information that a Boko Haram commander identified as Ikirima had moved to Mantari. «Following this, authorization was given for an air strike aimed at eliminating many terrorists and structures in the area,» he said.
«After the first wave of bombing, some surviving terrorists returned to the site to evacuate the bodies of those neutralized. This gave the opportunity for a second bombing in the same place which has been confirmed as very successful,» he has assessed.
Gabkwet has stressed that Boko Haram and ISWA are preparing plans to resume hostilities in the area, including attacks on «soft targets» in Bama. «The bombings have reduced their willingness to regroup and attack innocent citizens,» he stressed.
In this regard, he stressed that «there is no doubt that the progress and advances made by the air and ground forces have contained an upsurge in the terrorists’ campaigns in the northeast (of Nigeria) in recent times, as reported by the Nigerian news agency NAN.
The insecurity in Nigeria, centered precisely in this area, where Boko Haram and ISWA operate, has been spreading to other areas in the north and northwest, raising alarms about the possible expansion of terrorist and criminal networks.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
