The Nigerian Army says the troops of Operation Lafiya Dole have eliminated scores of Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists on Saturday in Borno.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
Yerima said the encounters, which took place on the Tumbus of Lake Chad’s fringes, also led to the destruction of terrorists’ gun trucks and recovery of a large cache of arms and ammunition.
He added that the combined troops of Sector 2 advanced and cleared Daban Massara and Ali Sherifti villages among other settlements before they harboured for replenishment and retrofitting along the axis.
The army explained that the troops had begun the second phase of their operations and advancing along the Kukawa – Monguno road, about 14 kilometres to their base, sighted terrorists’ gun trucks, and swiftly commenced pursuit with heavy fire and deft manoeuvre.
“In the course of the hot pursuit which was aided by air cover provided by the Air Task Team of Operation Lafia Dole, several terrorists were neutralised and their gun trucks destroyed.
Aerial bombardments executed by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Fighter Helicopters killed dozens of ISWAP/Boko Haram terrorists at Damasak, the headquarters of Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State.
Lagos Panorama gathered that the armed terrorists with sophisticated ammunition stormed Damasak town on Sunday in gun trucks to attack residents.
Their attempt to attack residents of the town were however foiled by the swift response of NAF helicopters, deployed to engage the Boko Haram elements.
A military intelligence officer, who craved anonymity, said the aerial bombardments of the NAF fighter aircraft eliminated over a dozen of the terrorists, and also shattered their gun trucks ‘terribly’.
He said: “Aside the air raids by the NAF helicopters, the ground troops also succeeded in neutralizing the remaining insurgents who attempted to escape after the destruction of three guntrucks, and one Canter Truck.
“The latest well-coordinated joint air and ground operations is quite encouraging as we have so far counted more than 30 dismembered corpses of the terrorists.”
The ground troops, led by Lt. Col Steven Nammu of 195 Battalion Super Camp in Damasak, recovered sophisticated weapons including AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and other lethal arms, from the insurgents.
