The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said on Wednesday that its component of the Operation Lafiya Dole has successfully destroyed a facility being used by the Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) to manufacture Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
According to the Director of Information and Public Relations of the NAF, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya the facility was located in Yiwe, south of Konduga, Borno state.
Adesanya said in a statement supported with a video footage of the operation that the suicide bombing which rocked part of Maiduguri, Borno state capital on November 18 was planned from the Boko Haram Terrorists’ facility.
The statement reads: “In furtherance of Operation LAFIYA DOLE, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), on 20 November 2017, successfully destroyed a Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) facility for manufacturing of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
“The BHT facility, which was in a place known as YIWE Forest, located 23km south of Konduga in Borno State.
“Previous NAF Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions had revealed the location to be a BHT hideout, from where the Maiduguri suicide bombing of 18 November 2017 was reportedly planned.
“Available Human Intelligence also revealed that the hideout contained IED-making facility for the insurgents’ suicide bombing attacks.
“Accordingly, one Mi-17 Helicopter, 2 x Alpha Jet and 2 x F-7Ni aircraft were detailed to carry out air interdiction on the target over a 2-day period. Overhead the location, the aircraft took turns to deliver a combination of bombs, rockets and cannons on the target.
“The subsequent Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) revealed that the strikes had destroyed the IED-making facility and other BHT structures, killing an unspecified number of insurgents in the process. The air strikes also caused a huge flame within the settlement, owing to the cache of IEDs stored by the BHTs, while a few fleeing insurgents were further strafed with cannons and rockets”.