The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said its newly acquired Mi-35M helicopter gunships have successfully unleashed their firepower on Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) at a camp, 9.7km South East of Bonne in its ongoing “Operation Thunder Strike”in Borno.
The NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, AVM. Olatokunbo Adesanya, who confirmed this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja, said the air operation was carried out on Thursday.
” An earlier Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance report had indicated the significant presence of terrorists in the camp, following which Mi-35M helicopter gunships were deployed to attack them.
” On approaching the target, the Mi-35M helicopter gunships successfully launched rocket and cannon attacks on the camp, in rapid succession.
” The footage of the attack, as captured by the helicopter’s airborne camera system, indicated the destruction of the targets as the structures within the BHT camp were engulfed in fire,” he said.
According to Adesanya, all the terrorists within the camp were also neutralised during the air interdiction.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NAF took delivery of the second batch of two brand new Mi-35M helicopters on April 30, 2018,
The helicopters were unveiled during the NAF’s 54th Anniversary celebrations in Kaduna and later deployed for operations. (NAN)