The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has insisted that its airstrike in Sokoto targeted and struck Lakurawa terrorists group alongside its logistics base leading to secondary explosion that killed villagers.
The Military High Command said the location was confirmed as a terrorist hideout and struck with precision, adding that no civilian was killed in the military airstrike.
The Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba stated this on Friday while giving update on the airstrike in Sokoto where 10 civilians were killed.
“The airstrike indeed hit logistic base of the terrorists which led to secondary explosions and it was these secondary explosions that led to some casualties that was earlier reported, General Buba said”.
He explained that prior to the operation on the 25th of December, 2024, there was confirmed and heightened terrorist activities in the area.
Hence, he added, a sustained intelligence, surveillance, recognizance was conducted for an extended period of time to confirm the presence of the terrorists hibernating there and to also make sure that those in that location were indeed terrorists.
He added that because of the painstaking measures, the operation which should have taken place on an earlier date, had to be rescheduled to the 25th when that operation was conducted.
General Buba said the operation was planned as a joint effort to leverage the air component’s precision strike capability and the land component’s ability of having the boots on the ground.
He explained further that the operation started with pre-operational intelligence, surveillance, and recognition missions to confirm the terrorists’ activities within the general area.
Thereafter, he said, human intelligence was deployed and their reports corroborated the intelligence, surveillance, and recognition findings, emphasising the strategic importance of neutralising the location.
“Having confirmed, aircrafts were dispatched to conduct precision airstrike on the identified hideouts at about 0600 hours on that day.
“The strike was executed with precision-guided munitions to minimise collateral damage. The land component was tactically deployed at blocking positions around the target location to prevent the escape of the Lakurawa terrorist group, as well as to provide immediate post-strike assessment and follow-up actions. Following the air strikes, ground forces moved into the area to assess the strike’s impact.
He continued “The ground forces confirmed that the hideout was successfully neutralized with minimal damage observed in the surrounding villages. The ground forces interacted with the locals in the area and confirmed the presence of the Lakurawa terrorists in that general area.
“The ground forces also confirmed that the air strikes achieved its primary objective of neutralising the Lakurawa terrorist group’s hideout.”
The military spokesman added that the destruction of the key infrastructure of the terrorist group was also confirmed, as well as the effectiveness of the strike by the ground forces that were on site.
He further disclosed that surviving Lakurawa terrorist group combatants fled the area immediately after the strike, particularly as they had better knowledge or familiarity of the terrain, saying others among them were also neutralised.
“Locals confirmed that the Lakurawa terrorists stayed in the village and used the general area as a staging area for the conduct of their operations. Also, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance as well as human intelligence reports prior to the operation consistently indicated the hideout was a high concentration terrorist location,” Buba added.
He however admitted that the air strike at the end of the day had minor impact on the surrounding villages.
According to Buba, the neutralised Lakurawa terrorists were burnt beyond recognition because they were hit directly by the strike. “It is also noted that the terrorists are known to blend within the local populace.
“We knew about this, and it is for this reason that we painstakingly made sure that we minimised civilian casualty in this strike and because the terrorists blend among the civil populace, it is often difficult to differentiate friend from foe. In summarising, I would say that troops target terrorists and not innocent citizens”.
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