The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has announced the destruction, on November 20, 2017, of a Boko Haram facility for manufacturing of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It said that the facility was in a place known as Yiwe Forest, located 23km south of Konduga in Borno State.

NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya said in a statement issued on Wednesday: “Previous NAF Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions had revealed the location to be a BHT hideout, from where the Maiduguri suicide bombing of 18 November 2017 was reportedly planned. Available Human Intelligence also revealed that the hideout contained IED-making facility for the insurgents’ suicide bombing attacks.

“Accordingly, one Mi-17 Helicopter, 2 x Alpha Jet and 2 x F-7Ni aircraft were detailed to carry out air interdiction on the target over a 2-day period. Overhead the location, the aircraft took turns to deliver a combination of bombs, rockets and cannons on the target.

“The subsequent Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) revealed that the strikes had destroyed the IED-making facility and other BHT structures, killing an unspecified number of insurgents in the process.

“The air strikes also caused a huge flame within the settlement, owing to the cache of IEDs stored by the BHTs, while a few fleeing insurgents were further strafed with cannons and rockets.”