The Nigeria Air Force (NAF) has carried out its first major air campaign under the recently launched ‘Operation Gama-Aiki’ mission, during which 15 Boko Haram insurgents were killed.

The terrorists were killed as an Alpha Jet bombed their convoy in the northern part of Borno state, officials said.

The aerial bombardment came about 72 hours after the air force commissioned despatched six war planes to tackle the deadly Boko Haram sect in the country’s volatile northeast.

NAF’s Operation Gama Aiki, a Hausa-coined nom de guerre which means ‘Finish the Job’, was launched on Friday June 19 with a mission to dislodge remnants of Boko Haram insurgents fleeing Sambisa forest.

The spokesman of the Nigerian Air Force, Ayodele Famuyiwa, a group captain, said the insurgents were spotted under trees by one of its intelligence planes, King Air A350i, while on surveillance of the insurgency-ravaged mission.

They were immediately bombed, with 15 of them killed and their seven Hilux vans destroyed, Mr. Famuyiwa said.

Some wounded terrorists fled with gunshot wounds, the statement said.

“The casualty figure was confirmed by ground forces who subsequently consolidated on the gains of the air effort to pursue and inflict further casualty on the fleeing wounded members of the terrorist group,” the statement said.

“Troops also confirmed two gun trucks were among vehicles destroyed by the Alpha Jet. Two AK-47 rifles, two RPGs and cache of assorted munitions were recovered.

Boko Haram fighters had two weeks ago recaptured the communities around the border with the Niger Republic from where they had been launching attacks on civilians and security forces.

Group Captain Famuyiwa, who is the NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, said the surveillance aircraft was able to send quick signals back to the Alpha Jet which came to attack the Boko Haram location and dislodged their movement towards a ground troop location.

Credit: PremiumTimes