… Insists Troops Targeted Terrorists
Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
As the military continues to face serious backlash for lack of precision over airstrike bombardment that killed a number of persons in Sokoto State, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has maintained that its airstrike in that State on Christmas Day targeted only the Lakurawa terrorist group and its logistics base leading to a secondary explosion that allegedly killed some villagers.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, who disclosed this to Journalists, said that the location was confirmed as a terrorist hideout and struck with precision.
He said that no civilian was killed in the military airstrike.
Buba, at a media update on the airstrike in Sokoto, said: “The air strike indeed hit the logistic base of the terrorist which led to secondary explosions and it was these secondary explosions that led to some casualties earlier reported.”
According to Gen. Buba, prior to the operation on the 25th of December 2024, there were confirmed and heightened terrorist activities in the area.
Intelligence, surveillance, and recognizance were conducted for an extended period to confirm the presence of the terrorists hibernating there and to also make sure that those in that location were indeed terrorists.
He added that because of the painstaking measures, the operation which should have taken place on an earlier date, had to be rescheduled to the 25th when that operation was conducted.
He said the operation was planned as a joint effort to leverage the air component’s precision strike capability and the land component’s ability to have the boots on the ground.
He explained further that the operation started with pre-operational intelligence, surveillance, and recognition missions to confirm the terrorist activities within the general area.
Thereafter, human intelligence was deployed and their reports corroborated the intelligence, surveillance, and recognition findings, emphasizing the strategic importance of neutralizing the location.
He said: “Having confirmed, aircraft were dispatched to conduct precision air strikes on the identified hideouts at about 0600 hours on that day.
“The strike was executed with precision-guided munitions to minimize collateral damage. The land component was tactically deployed at blocking positions around the target location to prevent the escape of the Lakurawa terrorist groups, as well as to provide immediate post-strike assessment and follow-up actions. Following the air strikes, ground forces moved into the area to assess the strike’s impact.
“The ground forces confirmed that the hideout was successfully neutralized with minimal damage observed in the surrounding villages. The ground forces interacted with the locals in the area and confirmed the presence of the Lakurawa terrorists in that general area.
“The ground forces also confirmed that the air strikes achieved their primary objective of neutralizing the Lakurawa terrorist group’s hideout.
The destruction of the key infrastructure of the terrorist groups was also confirmed, as well as the effectiveness of the strike was confirmed by the ground forces that were on site. Surviving Lakurawa terrorist group’s combatants fled the area immediately after the strike, particularly as they had better knowledge or familiarity with the terrain. Others among them were neutralised.
“Locals confirmed that the Lakurawa terrorists stayed in the village and used the general area as a staging area for the conduct of their operations. Also, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance as well as human intelligence reports prior to the operation consistently indicated the hideout was a high-concentration terrorist location.”
He however admitted that the air strike at the end of the day had a minor impact on the surrounding villages.
The neutralized Lakurawa terrorist combatants were burnt indeed beyond recognition because they were hit directly by the strike. It is also noted that the terrorists are known to blend with the local populace.
“We knew about this and it is for this reason that we painstakingly made sure that we minimized civilian casualty in this strike and because the terrorists blend among the civil populace, it is often difficult to differentiate friend from foe. In summarizing, I would say that troops target terrorists and not innocent citizens.”