By Ayomide Otitoju
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said it killed more than 35 jihadist fighters in precision air raids on Saturday in Borno State, near the Nigeria–Cameroon border, following an attempted attack on ground troops.
The strikes targeted Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) militants, both of which have intensified assaults on military positions in the northeast, sometimes overrunning bases and seizing weapons.
“Acting on multiple intelligence from several sources, the Air Component executed precision strikes in successive passes, engaging the terrorists and neutralising more than 35 fighters at four identified assembly areas,” NAF said in a statement.
The military added that communication was re-established with the threatened ground troops, who confirmed that “the situation around their location had been stabilised.” NAF said the operation was part of efforts to “dominate the battlefield” and “deny terrorists freedom of action.”
Nigeria’s northeast has endured a 16-year Islamist insurgency that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced over two million, according to the United Nations. While violence slowed after peaking in 2015, attacks have resurged this year, with fighters exploiting porous borders with Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
The latest strikes came as Niger’s military claimed earlier this week to have killed a Boko Haram leader in an air raid in the Lake Chad basin—a claim dismissed by aides to the jihadist group.
The U.S. State Department last week approved the potential sale of $346 million in weapons, including bombs, rockets, and munitions, to Nigeria, pending Congressional approval. Washington said the deal would strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to confront terrorist groups.
However, U.S. human rights reports have repeatedly flagged incidents of Nigerian airstrikes causing civilian casualties. A U.S. embassy spokesperson in Abuja said American officials “regularly engage with the Nigerian government at the highest levels to protect civilians from harm” and to ensure transparent investigations into allegations of human rights abuses.
In addition to the jihadist insurgency in the northeast, Nigeria’s security forces are also battling heavily armed criminal gangs—locally referred to as bandits—in the northwest, leaving civilians increasingly vulnerable to both militant violence and military operations.
