Multinational Joint Taskforce (MNJTF) Sunday said several Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) terrorists were killed on Saturday and their weapons destroyed in parts of Borno, Chad and Niger Republic.
The MNJTF disclosed this in a statement by its spokesman Colonel Timothy Antigha.
The taskforce said, the equipment destroyed included weapons, ammunition and logistics at Tumbum Rego, adding that plans by the terrorists to detonate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at Layi Koura in Nguigmi, Niger Republic were foiled.
“Air interdictions conducted by MNJTF and national Air Task Forces successfully attacked and killed several fighters and knocked out equipment on Saturday, August 30, as they prepared to launch an offensive on troops’ location.
“Battle damage assessment has indicated that the air interdiction had a devastating impact, as pockets of ISWAP build up and logistics hidden under trees in Tumbum Rego have been ruined.
“ISWAP assets in Mallam Zuberu and Alagarno were also targeted and neutralised. Similarly, IEDs planted by ISWAP operatives in Layi Koura area of Nguigmi in Niger Republic was discovered and defused by troops.
“It would be recalled that in the past couple of weeks, ISWAP suicide bombers struck in Kaiga-Kindjiria; a rural community in the Republic of Chad as well as Gubio in Borno State in an effort to revamp its dream of establishing a caliphate in parts of Northern Nigeria and other areas of the Lake Chad Basin.
“This blow by the MNJTF will further plunge the leadership and followership of ISWAP into more despair,” said Antigha.
