In furtherance of Operation LAFIYA DOLE, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), has 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.