Top commanders of the ISWAP/Boko Haram insurgents were reportedly killed during air interdiction missions at Belowa, near Lake Chad by the Air Component of the Operation Hadin Kai.
According to the report by Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper on Monday, Belowa is among the few remaining ISWAP/Boko Haram enclaves in the Tumbuns, Lake Chad Region in Abadam Local Government.
The report stated that the air strikes became necessary after intelligence revealed the convergence of some ISWAP leaders and fighters from surrounding areas for a meeting with the motive of planning attacks.
It added that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft were dispatched to the location of the meeting at Belowa and that the location was subsequently engaged with rockets and bombs in multiple passes.
The report also said that an hour after the strikes, two vehicles conveying about 13 injured surviving terrorists to another hideout were struck through precision strikes by an airforce war jet.
The newspaper quoted military intelligence sources as saying that after the strikes, ISWAP kingpin, Mallam Ali Kwaya, who is a key member of the ISWAP Shura Council and Mallam Bukar Mainoka were among those neutralized in the strikes.
It recalled that similar strikes were also conducted on November 4, 2022, at Ngwuri Gana in Bama LGA, a location East of Maiduguri in northern Nigeria.
The report also said that Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, NAF Spokesperson, confirmed the strikes but refused to give more details on the casualties.
GIK/APA