No fewer than 160 members of Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, otherwise known as Boko Haram, were killed and their hidden camps destroyed following a wave of airstrikes conducted by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets in Borno and Yobe States.
The devastating airstrikes were conducted on Thursday, November 2, 2023, by the Air Component of Operation HADIN KAI in two identified terrorist enclaves. The first one was around Bulabulin along Komadugu-Yobe River near Geidam in Yobe State.
Sources, according to Zagazola Makama, a Security Analyst and a Counter-Insurgency Expert in the Lake Chad region, revealed that the target in Bulabulin along Komadugu-Yobe River was established as a major hub of the Boko Haram activities from where the terrorists recently coordinated attacks on local communities of Nguro Kayaya of Gaidam LGA, which led to the killing of 16 persons and another IED attack on mourners, who went to conduct burial for the 16 victims of the first attack.
The sources said that the Airforce detailed an airborne electro-optical system to attack the target area.
He said the airstrikes were synchronized with the ground troops in the area for maximum effect, recording devastating hits on the Boko Haram hideout and killing more than 100 of their fighters, destroying two gun trucks and some structures.
“The second set of airstrikes was at Degbawa village on the Mandara Mountains in Gwoza LGA in Borno State, where the airstrikes targeted a group of over 60 terrorists including some of their Field Commanders reported to be holding a meeting on how to attack some military locations around Gwoza and its environs.
“On-the-ground sources revealed that about 60 terrorists loyal to the notorious terrorist kingpin, Ali Ngulde, were obliterated while the few surviving terrorists scampered for safety with various degrees of wounds.
“The source further revealed that the troops of Operation Hadin Kai have been charged to intensify intelligence-led coordinated combined actions of both the ground and Airforce to annihilate the terrorists and end terrorism in the North-East as soon as possible,” Makama stated.
