Khadijat Yusuf
Abuja
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has insisted that it airstrike in Sokoto targeted and struck Lakurawa terrorists group and it's logistics base leading to secondary explosion that killed villagers.
The Director Defence Media Operations Major General Edward Buba stated this on Friday while giving update on the airstrikes in Sokoto where 10 civilians were killed said said the location was confirmed as a terrorist hideout and struck with precision,adding that it airstrike did not kill civilians.
"The air strike indeed hit logistic base of the terrorist which led to secondary explosions and it was these secondary explosions that led to some casualties that was earlier reported,".
Gen. Buba explained that prior to the operation on the 25th of December, 2024 there was confirmed and heightened terrorist activities in the area. which necessitated a sustained intelligence, surveillance, recognizance was conducted for an extended period of time 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 the operation was conducted. And it was planned as a joint effort to leverage the air component's precision strike capability and the land component's ability of having the boots on the ground.
Gen Buba further explained 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.
"Having confirmed, aircrafts 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.
He continued "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 its 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 of 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 minor impact on the surrounding villages, while 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 within 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," he said.
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