By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria’s military has blamed “secondary explosions” arising from its bombing of the arms and logistics base of the Lakurawa terrorists group in Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa, in Silame Local Government Areas of Sokoto State.
The airstrikes which were conducted on Christmas day, reportedly left 10 civilians dead, sparking public outcry.
Briefing journalists at the Nigerian Defence Headquarters on Friday, Major General Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations informed that the destruction of key infrastructure used by the terrorist, including arms cache and logistics dumps confirmed the strike’s effectiveness, but sadly resulted in secondary explosions.
“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. Efforts are ongoing to determine whether or not they were terrorist collaborators”, he said adding that “the airstrike achieved its primary objective of neutralizing the Lakurawa terrorist in there concentration area”.
General Buba clarified that prior to the operation, there was heightened terrorists activities in the area, and that 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 terrorist”.
He added that locals of the area confirmed that Lakurawa terrorist stayed in the village and used the general areas to stage their operation, maintaining that troops will continue to take painstaking measures to avoid civilian “needless” casualties.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria has a duty to defend citizens from terrorist either through peaceful means, or the force of arms. It is in discharge of this responsibility that on 25 Dec 24, a coordinated joint operation 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 in Silame LGA of Sokoto State.
“Significantly, the operation was rescheduled from an earlier date to 25 Dec 24 in order to allow for further confirmation using Human Intelligence. 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.
“Pre-operation ISR missions confirmed significant terrorist activity within the general area. HUMINT reports equally corroborated the ISR findings, emphasizing the strategic importance of neutralizing the location.
“Subsequently, aircrafts 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 terrorist. 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 area whom confirmed presence of the Lakurawas terrorist in the general area,” Gen. Buba told newsmen.
Niger’s Weighty Allegations
Niger’s junta leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani had earlier made strong claims that the Nigerian Government led by President Bola Tinubu is colluding with the Emmanuel Macron-led French Government to set up a camp in a village called Gaba, in Sokoto State, to destabilize Niger.
Unofficial sources had claimed that General Tchiani had “informed the former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency Ahmed Rufai Abubakar and the office of the National Security Adviser” led by Nuhu Ribadu, of the development early enough in the year, prior to the commencement of attacks by the Lakurawa terrorists.
The Nigerian Government has since denied the allegations.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, described the allegations as baseless and fictitious.
“These claims exist solely in the realm of imagination. Nigeria has never engaged in any covert or overt alliance with France—or any other nation—to sponsor terrorism or destabilise Niger Republic following its recent political upheaval,” he said.
Sokoto State is bounded by the Republic of Niger to the north and west for 363 km (226 miles). Being the seat of the former Sokoto Caliphate, the city is predominantly Muslim, and stands as an important seat of Islamic learning in Nigeria. The Sultan who heads the caliphate is effectively the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims.
