Boko Haram: NAF hits sect’s armoury, fuel dump

The Nigerian Air Force says Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole has destroyed a Boko Haram Terrorist (BHT) logistics base, along with some vehicles, at Tumbun Sale in northern Borno.
Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, in a statement on Thursday, said the operation was carried out on Tuesday.

“The operation was conducted on Oct.23 after Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions revealed the presence of some BHT vehicles and several fighters camouflaged under thick vegetation within the area, where the BHTs had converged in order to launch attacks against own troops’ positions,” he said.

“Accordingly, the ATF scrambled 2 Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet aircraft, supported by an ISR platform, to attack the target area in multiple waves,” he said.

Daramola said that the first wave of attacks recorded direct hits on a suspected BHT ammunition/fuel dump, sending it up in flames.
He said that subsequent air strikes also resulted in the destruction of some vehicles and killing of several Boko Haram terrorists, adding that the few surviving BHTs, that were seen fleeing the area, were mopped-up in follow-up attacks.

The spokesman said that the NAF, working in concert with land forces, would sustain the tempo of operations with a view to destroying all remnants of the terrorists on the fringes of Lake Chad and other areas in Northern Borno.