The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has insisted that its airstrikes in Sokoto targeted and struck the Lakurawa terrorist group and its logistics base leading to a secondary explosion that killed some villagers.
The Military High Command said the location was confi`rmed as a terrorists’ hideout and the troops struck with precision, adding that its airstrikes did not kill civilians.
The director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba stated this on Friday while giving an update on the airstrikes in Sokoto where 10 civilians were killed.
“The airstrikes indeed hit the logistic base of the terrorists which led to secondary explosions and it was these secondary explosions that led to some casualties that was earlier reported,” Buba said.
He said prior to the operation on December 25, 2024, there were confirmed and heightened terrorist activities in the area.
Major General Buba explained that a sustained intelligence and surveillance 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 December 25 when that operation was conducted.
General Buba said the operation 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.
According to him, 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, emphasising the strategic importance of neutralising the location.
“Having confirmed, aircraft were dispatched to conduct precision airstrikes on the identified hideouts at about 0600 hours on that day.
“The strike was executed with precision-guided munitions to minimise collateral damage. The land component was tactically deployed at blocking positions around the target location to prevent the escape of the Lakurawa terrorist group, as well as to provide immediate post-strike assessment and follow-up actions. Following the airstrikes, ground forces moved into the area to assess the strike’s impact.
“The ground forces confirmed that the hideout was successfully neutralised 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 neutralising the Lakurawa terrorist group’s hideout.
“The destruction of the key infrastructure of the terrorist group 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 of terrorists’ location,” Buba stated.
He however admitted that the air strike, at the end of the day, had a minor impact on the surrounding villages.
He stressed that the neutralised Lakurawa terrorist combatants were burnt beyond recognition because they were hit directly by the strike, adding that the terrorists were known to blend within the local populace.
“We knew about this and it is for this reason that we painstakingly made sure that we minimised civilian casualty in this strike and because the terrorists blend among the civilian populace, it is often difficult to differentiate friend from foe. In summary, I would say that troops target terrorists and not innocent citizens,” he said.