The ongoing Operation Thunder Strike 2 by the Air Task Force of Operation Lafia Dole on 9 September 2018, successfully destroyed some Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) facilities and killed several insurgents at Bukar Meram and Tumbun Allura, both on the fringes of Lake Chad, Borno State.
According to a press release by the Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola revealed that the attack at Bukar Meram was conducted based on credible human intelligence reports indicating the presence of some BHTs, along with their equipment, within the settlement. “This was also subsequently confirmed by successive days of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions,” he noted.
Air Commodore Daramola said that the ATF detailed a NAF Alpha Jet aircraft and helicopter gunship to carry out air interdiction at the location adding that two of the identified locations were subsequently destroyed in strikes by the NAF aircraft and several BHTs neutralized.
Further in his statement, the NAF spokesman disclosed that a similar ISR missions had indicated that some BHTs were attempting to regroup at another location in Tumbun Allura after their bases in the settlement were destroyed on 4 September 2018.
“Consequently, the identified location within the town was attacked and destroyed by a combination of NAF Alpha Jet and F-7Ni aircraft to further ensure the insurgents are unable to resume using the settlement as a base of operation”, according to him.
The DOPRI assured that the NAF would continue to work in concert with surface forces to sustain the momentum of Operation THUNDER STRIKE 2 with a view to seeking out and destroying vestiges of the insurgents in the Lake Chad green fringes.