The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has stepped up its air campaign against terrorists in the North-East, carrying out a series of pinpoint strikes on terrorist strongholds in Sambisa and Tumbuns.
In a statement issued on Friday, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, Director of Public Relations and Information, stated that the actions were carried out by the Air Component of Operation HADIN KAI.
He stated, “NAF under the Air Component of Operation HADIN KAI has intensified the tempo of its air campaign in the North-East, unleashing sustained and aggressive precision strikes that are systematically dismantling terrorist networks across Sambisa and the Tumbuns.”
According to him, “Acting on credible intelligence, NAF aircraft struck decisively at insurgent enclaves, obliterating hideouts, crippling logistics hubs, and neutralizing scores of fighters in relentless, coordinated attack runs.”
Ejodame also stated that on April 30, “air assets executed a high-impact air interdiction mission at Alafa in the Sambisa axis, where confirmed terrorist infrastructure and supply nodes were swiftly engaged and destroyed in successive strikes.”
He noted that the operation continued on May 1 with another strike on Metele in the Tumbuns, noting that “intelligence and surveillance exposed a fortified island stronghold with entrenched fighters, storage facilities, and defensive trench systems.”
“With scores of insurgents confirmed within the target area, NAF aircraft delivered precise and overwhelming firepower, striking and decimating the location,” he said.
He explained that “the sustained intensity of these operations reflects a deliberate strategy of continuous pressure, denying terrorists any space to regroup or operate.”
The statement also reported Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, Chief of the Air Staff, as saying that operations would continue until all threats were eradicated.
“He reaffirmed the Service’s unyielding resolve to dominate the battlespace, stressing that operations will persist with increased intensity until all terrorist capabilities are dismantled and threats to national security fully neutralised,” the statement said.
The latest strikes follow an earlier coordinated air operation by the NAF targeting terrorist positions in Guduf, located in the Mandara Mountains along Nigeria’s northeastern border with Cameroon, which was carried out on April 27 based on “credible intelligence and confirmatory intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance reports,” according to the Air Force.
