Coordinated strikes by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets and ground assault by Nigerian Army troops under Operation Hadarin Daji (OPHD) has killed 45 terrorists who had gathered for a meeting in Sububu Forest in Zamfara State.
Sources said that among those killed were Nigerian and foreign high profile terrorists and that they met their ‘Waterloo’ at the “location” which happened to be residence of local notorious terrorists’ leader, Halilu Tubali, at the North of Sububu Forest.
A source noted that upon receipt of the actionable “intelligence” information of a planned gathering of the terrorists leaders at Sububu Forest, the Air Component OPHD was immediately activated to initiate and maintain Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions over the Forest.
It further gathered that land forces within the vicinity of the forest were also alerted to prepare for an assault on the bandits once air strikes on their gathering are executed just as the operatives of Department of State Security Setvice (DSS) kept surveillance on their movement.
According to the source, “at about 2.24pm on 6 August 2021, intelligence filtered of the arrival of the bandits as well as the positive sighting of Halilu Tubali amongst a host of other high-profile targets.
“Subsequently, Alpha Jets was dispatched to the target location. On sighting many of the bandits dressed in black, the Alpha Jet engaged with rockets in a first pass, neutralizing scores of them. The remnant bandits taking cover in a well camouflaged green roofed structure within the shrubs were equally neutralized.
“On a second pass, the aircraft targeted makeshift structures where remnants of the bandits were hiding and successfully decimated them.
“Few wounded bandits scampering in disarray after the strikes were promptly intercepted by ground troops who assaulted the location after the air strikes.
“The joint operation led to the successful neutralization of more than 45 bandits. It is still unclear if the bandit leader Halilu Tubali was killed in the air strike even though one of the bandits who was wounded in the strike confirmed the effectiveness of the strikes.”
Efforts to reach the new Director Defence Information (DDI) and Spokesperson of Defence Headquarters, Major General Benjamin Olufemi Sawyer for comment on the development were futile.
This story was originally posted by PRNigeria, a Nigerian pro-military News Distributing Centre