At least 27 suspected militants have been killed in separate air strikes targeting enclaves in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno State, according to the military.
An operational report from the Nigerian Air Force, seen by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the raids were carried out following extensive intelligence and surveillance missions in the region.
The strikes targeted enclaves in both the southern and northern Tumbus areas of the state, a region long troubled by insurgent activity near the Lake Chad fringes.
According to the military report, the first operation took place at around 00:40 local time on Wednesday, 10 June, at Dawoshe in the Southern Tumbus area. Aircraft targeted a cluster of vehicles spotted during aerial surveillance. A subsequent assessment confirmed that the vehicles were destroyed and 12 militants were killed.
Later that same day, a precision strike was launched against militant positions further north at Metele, located in the Guzamala local government area. The air force said that 15 insurgents were killed in the second raid, a figure it stated was confirmed by human intelligence on the ground.
The military described the operations as a significant blow to insurgent networks operating in the region. It said the strikes were part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt the logistics of the armed groups and restrict their movement across the north-east.
The region has been the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency led by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) for more than a decade, which has left tens of thousands of people dead and displaced millions. The Nigerian military stated it would sustain its offensive operations until security is fully restored.
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