The Defence Headquarters has cleared speculations on the incident that happened in Silame Local Government Area of Sokoto State, North Central Nigeria where a synchronized operation against terrorists by Operation FANSAN YAMMA led to the secondary explosion that killed villagers.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba while briefing Journalists in Abuja, on a coordinated joint operation that was conducted between the Air Component and the Land Component of Operation FANSAN YAMMA to destroy Lakurawas Terrorists Group (LTG) hideouts at Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa in Jirikon Forest, said prior to the operation, there were heightened terrorist activities in the area.
General Buba said that “troops will continue to take painstaking measures to avoid civilian casualties”.
According to him, all civilian casualties are viewed as a needless tragedy.
“Nevertheless, we will not relent in targeting and dislodging terrorists across our nation”, he said.
According to him, the military conducted sustained Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions for over extended periods to painstakingly confirm that those hibernating in the area were Lakurawa terrorists.
Significantly, the operation was rescheduled from an earlier date to 25th December 2024 in order to allow for further confirmation using Human Intelligence.
General Buba noted that the joint operation was planned such that the Air Component’s precision strike capability was complimented by the Land Component’s boots on the ground.
He said that “pre-operation ISR missions confirmed significant terrorist activity within the general area”.
He added that HUMINT reports equally corroborated the ISR findings, emphasizing the strategic importance of neutralizing the location.
Subsequently, aircraft conducted a precision airstrike on the identified hideouts at about 0600hrs.
The strike was executed with precision-guided munitions to minimize collateral damage.
The Land Component deployed at blocking positions around the target location to prevent the escape of Lakurawas terrorists.
They also provided immediate post-strike assessment and follow-up actions.
Following the airstrike, 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 village.
The ground forces interacted with the locals in the area who confirmed the presence of the Lakurawas terrorists in the general area.
The airstrike achieved its primary objective of neutralizing the Lakurawa terrorists in their concentration area.
“The destruction of key infrastructure used by the terrorists including arms cache and logistics dumps confirmed the strike’s effectiveness. The air strike on the terrorist arms cache and logistics dump led to other secondary explosions causing hoarded munitions to explode in different directions that resulted in 10 deaths”, he added.
Efforts are ongoing to determine whether or not they were terrorist collaborators.
Meanwhile, locals of the area confirmed that Lakurawas terrorists stayed in the village and used the general areas as staging areas for their operation.
ISR and HUMINT reports before the operation consistently indicated the hideout was a high-concentration terrorist’s location.
PIAK
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