The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets on Wednesday intercepted and “neutralises” about 70 terrorists along the the Akilibu – Sarkin Pawa Road, near Mangoro Village, between Kaduna and Niger States, which is becoming the hotbed of terrorists’ violence in Northwest Nigeria.
However, it is not clear yet if the the terrorists by the NAF airstrikes were part of those that attacked and killed nine passengers on Monday night in the Abuja-Kaduna bound train as there are reports that most of the terrorists involved int he operation have returned back to their bases along that route.
Sources confirmed that the NAF, “upon receiving credible information that at about 2 pm on 30 March 2022, about 70 terrorists on 40 motorcycles and some on foot, were sighted moving towards the Akilibu – Sarkin Pawa Road, near Mangoro Village, the Air Component of Operation Thunder Strike swiftly scrambled an aircraft to intercept and neutralize the terrorists.
“As the aircraft approached the scene, several terrorist were seen running in disarray on sighting the aircraft, abandoning their motorcycles to take cover within nearby bushes.
“The terrorists were subsequently engaged in different waves with rockets while those fleeing were mopped up with canons decisively,” it was gathered.
The source also confirmed that feedback from local sources around Mangoro Village noted that already, “17 motorcycles including 34 dead bodies as well as 14 locally fabricated guns belonging to the terrorist were recovered.
