Boko Haram leaders ‘killed’ in air force raid

The Nigerian air force (NAF) component of operation Lafiya Dole says it has neutralised a gathering of Boko Haram insurgents.

The air force said that it conducted an air interdiction mission on some remnants of the insurgents in a village 3.42 km north-east of Mangosum, Borno.

Olatokunbo Adesanya, director of public relations and information, said this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja.

Adesanya said NAF successfully provided air cover to troops of 27 task force battalion thereby enabling them to repel an attack by the insurgents.

According to him, a NAF intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft trailed the remnants of the insurgents that attacked the battalion earlier to a village near Mangosum.

“Following which NAF conducted the air interdiction mission with two Alpha Jets and one F-7Ni aircraft.

“Battle Damage Assessment conducted after the strike showed that several leaders of the insurgents’ organisation and their followers were killed during the attacks.

“A sizeable cache of weapons and equipment were destroyed with the successful air interdiction,” he said.

The director said NAF was able to frustrate yet another attempt by the remnants of the insurgents to regroup in the Sambisa general area.