Troops of the 28 Task Force Brigade, Sector 4, Operation Hadin Kai, on Saturday foiled a large-scale invasion by ISWAP and Boko Haram terrorists who launched a coordinated assault on communities in Chibok Local Government, Borno State.
The attack, military sources said, happened during the early hours o Saturday, but soldiers swiftly responded with superior firepower, engaging the gunmen in a two-hour gun battle that forced a retreat toward the dreaded Timbuktu Triangle.
Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, representing Borno South, whose constituency includes Chibok, confirmed the breach in a phone interview with Vanguard, saying he received a distress call from his local coordinator.
“Boko Haram/ISWAP invaded some communities in Chibok, but they were repelled by troops. Unfortunately, two people were killed, and a local church was razed in Kwada village,” Ndume said.
Senator Ndume sympathised with the families of the victims and the entire Chibok community.
He prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased and urged the military and other security agencies to intensify efforts to restore total peace in Southern Borno and the country at large.
Another defence source said no soldier was killed in the operation.
“The troops were alert and professionally contained the attack. There was no casualty on our side, and no equipment was affected,” the source said.
Sources indicated that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) neutralised scores of the fleeing fighters during a follow-up air interdiction.
Following the terrorists’ withdrawal, ground forces requested air support, prompting the immediate deployment of NAF combat aircraft to the identified withdrawal axis.
“The NAF jet delivered precise and devastating strikes along the terrorists’ escape route, obliterating a significant number of the fighters and disrupting their movement,” the source added.
According to the sources, four major airstrikes were conducted by NAF combat aircraft along the terrorists’ withdrawal route toward the Timbuktu Triangle. The strikes were guided by real-time intelligence from ground troops of the 28 Task Force Brigade, Sector 4, Operation Hadin Kai.
The first wave of strikes targeted a cluster of fleeing terrorists attempting to regroup, “achieving significant degradation of the hostile elements,” the sources told Vanguard.
Subsequent strikes targeted additional pockets of fighters dispersing into forested terrain.
In addition to the four manned-aircraft strikes, the sources confirmed that further attacks were carried out by an unmanned aerial platform.
“The platform maintained continuous ISR coverage and engaged with high precision. Its strikes further eliminated retreating fighters and disrupted their movement pattern,” the sources noted.
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