Several top commanders and fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) were killed in a series of airstrikes launched by the Nigerian military around the Lake Chad region, the armed forces said on Monday.
Ehimen Ejodame, spokesperson for the Nigerian Air Force, said in a statement that the anti-terror mission, aimed at decimating the leadership of the terror group, hit Arina Woje, a location identified as a notorious enclave of ISWAP in the Southern Tumbuns area of Borno in the northern part of Nigeria, near Lake Chad.
The area is “known as a sanctuary for terrorist leaders,” said the spokesperson, who did not provide an exact number of ISWAP commanders killed during the air raid.
He explained that the airstrike followed a series of credible intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sorties that confirmed the return of terrorist elements to the area after recent inter-factional clashes.
Ejodame said military intelligence had revealed significant terrorist activities, including the movement of foot soldiers, the reactivation of structures, and the concealment of possible command centers and logistics depots beneath dense foliage.
“Aircrew on arrival, acquired and prosecuted pre-selected targets using precision-guided munitions, achieving devastating effects,” Ejodame said, adding that preliminary battle damage assessment revealed the destruction of several structures housing key ISWAP leaders, fighters, and logistics storage facilities, effectively disrupting the group’s operational planning and resupply efforts in the region.
ISWAP has been collaborating with its sister group, Boko Haram, in an attempt to establish an Islamist state in northeast Nigeria. The terror groups have also extended their attacks to other countries in the Lake Chad Basin.
