Terror War: NAF Jets destroy Boko Haram training camp in Malkonery, takes out gun truck near Tumbum Rego in Borno State.

The Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole has decimated a Boko Haram Terrorist (BHT) Training Camp in Malkonory and also destroyed a BHT vehicle near Tumbun Rego in Northern Borno State.

The attack on the Training Camp was undertaken on Thursday, 11 October 2018, on the heels of credible intelligence reports indicating that several structures, cleverly camouflaged under thick vegetation in the settlement, were being used to harbour and train BHT fighters.

A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform subsequently confirmed features such as training dummies and trenches along with a large number of adult males within the camp.

Consequently, the ATF detailed NAF Alpha Jet aircraft to attack the camp in successive strikes resulting in the destruction of many of the structures, which were seen to be engulfed in flames, as well as the neutralization of several BHTs.

The few surviving BHTs were mopped-up in subsequent follow-on attacks.

Similarly, following Intelligence reports indicating the presence of BHT vehicles on the move around Matari Village along the Metele-Kangarawa-Tumbun Rego axis on 9 October 2018, a NAF ISR platform was detailed to reconnoitre the area and subsequently spotted one of the BHT vehicles, a gun truck, along the road heading towards Tumbun Rego.

Accordingly, an Alpha Jet aircraft was scrambled to attack the vehicle, with direct hits recorded on the target, leading to the destruction of the gun truck.

The NAF, working in concert with surface forces, will sustain the momentum of operations with a view to destroying remnants of the BHTs on the fringes of Lake Chad and other areas in Northern Borno.

Ibikunle Daramola, Air Commodore,
Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF.