Nigerian military kills 70 terrorists in airstrikes
Nigeria's air force said on Saturday that it had killed more than 70 Islamic State affiliated fighters in the north of the country, at the border with Niger.
Abuja
In a continuous offensive against insurgents, the Nigeria Air Force on Saturday bombed strongholds of the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) killing 79 fighters.
The military deployed tactical fighter jets that decimated some bases held by Iswap and Boko Haram in Lake Chad area that shares a border with Niger Republic.
The operation carried out on the platform of Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) dropped missiles on Iswap commanders and their training camps.
The coordinated attacks were spearheaded by the Nigerian air taskforce in Lake Chad in the country's volatile northeast region where Iswap terrorists have been fighting back against the crushing intrusion of their enclaves by the Nigerian military.
Homemade bombs
The fighters have taken several measures to push back the troops by burying homemade bombs around paths and highways leading to their cells.
These landmines had in the past days and weeks claimed the lives of innocent civilians — mostly women children — in Borno state, northeast Nigeria.
The IEDs, mostly locally made bombs, account for more than half of the fatalities recorded in the ongoing counter-insurgency campaign in the northeast.
An official report by the Defence headquarters says that Saturday’s operation was carried out by both Nigeria and Niger Republic to cripple Iswap and Boko Haram ahead of the rainy season in Lake Chad area.
Hosting Boko Haram fighters
Lake Chad region is known for hosting Boko Haram fighters since 2009 and Iswap, a jihadist group which became active in 2016.
With older rivals Boko Haram, the two factions have killed more than 40,000 people in the past decade and over two million people are still displaced from their homes due to ongoing violence.
“Missions over the suspected locations conducted on 13 April 2022 specifically sighted large number of terrorists, a likely logistics camp,” air force spokesman Edward Gabkwet said on Sunday.
As a result, they carried out airstrikes in Tumbun Rego and a nearby training camp using aircraft from both Nigeria and Niger, he added.
“Over 79 Iswap terrorists were eliminated and many severely injured,” he said.
Workshops destroyed
Ground troops also seized more weapons belonging to jihadists and destroyed workshops used for making deadly arms.
The military often scales up its offensive at this time of the year, before the rainy season starts.
Soldiers have been battling the jihadist insurgency for more 12 years.
Since last year, Iswap has mostly taken over from its rival Boko Haram after its leader Abubakar Shekau died during inter-factional clashes.
Shekau had gained international notoriety after kidnapping nearly 276 schoolgirls from Government Girls Science Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014.
Government troops are also battling heavily armed gangs in the northwest and separatist tensions in the southeast.
Mass killings, abductions
The northwest region of Nigeria has witnessed mass killings, abductions, and displacements in recent times, making it the most dangerous region in the country.
A total of 1,103 deaths were recorded in the restive northwest in the first quarter of 2022, surpassing other regions, including the war-ravaged north eastern part, data released by the National Security Tracker (NST) indicated.
In March, a train moving between Abuja and Kaduna was forcefully stopped on its tracks after terrorists attacked it with explosives, killed nine people and abducted more than 85 passengers who are still being held hostage.
In 2021, state governors across the northwest took a number of measures including a shutting down mobile network in an attempt to support security operations against the terror groups known locally as bandits.
But the attacks continued, especially in vulnerable communities, raising tension across the country.
