Reports have it that a military aircraft was on Friday hit by Islamic insurgents in Borno State in the on-going operations across northeastern Nigeria.
Though
there has been no official confirmation of the incident, it is reported
that the aircraft managed to return to base after the encounter.
The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris
Olukolade had told journalists that Nigerian forces used jets and attack
helicopters to bombard Islamist militant camps in the northeast on
Friday, killing a number of insurgents.
Brigadier-General Olukolade said that several camps had been attacked, including the Sambisa game reserve in Borno State.
Asked to confirm the alleged shooting down of a military plane,
Brigadier-General Olukolade declined to give further details, saying
more information would be given after mop-up operations on the ground.
“A number of insurgents have been killed. It is not just Sambisa,
every camp is under attack. But we have not done the mopping up
operations on the ground to determine the numbers killed,” Brig. Gen.
Olukolade said.
Sambisa, a forest that spreads over a distance of 300sq km from
Damboa up to Gwoza, Bama and the Cameroon border, has been a hideout and
training camp of Boko Haram.
The military is trying to regain territory controlled by increasingly
well-armed Boko Haram Islamist insurgents in the northeastern
stronghold states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, following the declaration
of a state of emergency in the area by President Goodluck Jonathan on
Tuesday.

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