The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has destroyed a terrorist concentration of more than 40 fighters during precision air operations in Borno State, the service said on Sunday.
In a statement, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, Director of Public Relations and Information for the NAF, said the air strikes were executed by the Air Component of Operation HADIN KAI on January 15 and 16, following verified intelligence and close coordination with troops in contact.
Ejodame said aircraft responded to a distress call in the Azir area in the early hours of January 16, where soldiers were engaging withdrawing insurgents.
Surveillance subsequently revealed groups attempting to regroup beneath tree cover; targeted successive strikes, the statement said, neutralised the threat and left the area clear.
Earlier, on January 15, NAF assets conducted an interdiction at Musarram in the Tumbuns general area after intelligence indicated militants were assembling in canoes to mount attacks along the Baga Fish Dam corridor.
The aircraft reportedly sighted about 10 canoes carrying in excess of 40 suspected terrorists, carried out multiple attack runs and disrupted the planned assault.
Some fleeing fighters were pursued and neutralised, while those regrouping at an assembly point were also engaged, the statement added.
Reacting to the operations, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, Chief of the Air Staff, described the missions as evidence of the value of intelligence-led air power and effective air ground cooperation.
He pledged continued, timely air support to ground formations and vowed sustained pressure on terrorist networks to degrade their capabilities and restore stability to affected communities.