Abuja, Nigeria – The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has announced that the air component of operations Hadarin Daji and Hadin Kai successfully eliminated 30 terrorists in airstrikes targeting their hideouts in Katsina and Borno states.
AVM Edward Gabkwet, the Director of Public Relations and Information for NAF, disclosed this in a statement released on Wednesday in Abuja.
Gabkwet stated that the airstrikes conducted by the air component of Operation Hadarin Daji in the North West on May 27 targeted terrorists loyal to a notorious kingpin known as Babura. The strikes were carried out around the bandits’ hideouts in Bakai, Bakarya, and Yartsintsiya in Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State.
According to Gabkwet, credible intelligence reports confirmed that approximately 30 terrorists were neutralized in the airstrikes. He added that Babura narrowly escaped elimination, while many of his associates were killed.
Additionally, similar airstrikes were conducted by the air component of Operation Hadin Kai on the same day at Tumbun Fulani, near Lake Chad, targeting terrorists at a previously abandoned hideout. These airstrikes were authorized following Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions that observed a pattern consistent with the relocation of terrorists to new hideouts and the movement of their logistics.
Gabkwet highlighted that the location targeted near Lake Chad had previously been struck by NAF aircraft on September 26 and 28, 2023, resulting in the elimination of several terrorists and destruction of their logistics and mobility assets.
He emphasized that the return of remnants of terrorists to their once-destroyed enclave underscores the successes achieved by both air and ground troops in flushing them out of their hideouts.
