According to the Defense Headquarters, the Air Force Intervention Force of Operation Lafiya Dole (OPLD) destroyed a compound that housed several high-ranking Boko Haram terrorist leaders in Garin Maloma.
According to the report, this led to the killing of several leaders and their fighters in the town on the edge of the Sambisa forest in Borno.
The coordinator for defence media operations, Major General John Enenche, announced the revelation in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.
Enenche said the Fiat had been reached by massive air strikes launched at the start of “Operation Long Reach,” a new relief operation that began on June 16.
He said Garin Maloma was an important node in the communication line of the Boko Haram terrorists in the forest axis of Sambisa.
Enenche said that the attack was based on credible intelligence reports as well as surveillance missions lasting for days.
He said the report showed that the terrorists had started to use one of the sites in the settlement for housing and training their fighters.
According to him, the task force sent a reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft (ISR) and fighter planes to attack the site.
“Over the target area, many terrorists were observed near the settlement, a few near the high-value solar panelled target (HVT).
“Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter planes attacked the site in successive waves, causing significant damage to numerous structures and killing several terrorists.
“Some terrorists who survived the first waves and gathered around the debris near the damaged HVT site were killed in subsequent subsequent attacks.
“The Chief of Air Force Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who was in Maiduguri to flag ‘Operation Long Reach’, praised the troops and instructed them to intensify the air offensive against the terrorists and all other enemies of our great nation,” he said