By Victor Akaa, Abuja.
Barely 48 hours of its commencement, troops of Operation Long Reach (OPLR) has launched a major attacks at Garin Maloma on the fringes of the Sambisa Forest, which led to the destruction of some compound inhabiting high valued terrorist leaders and neutralised some of its top fighters in Borno state.
Operation Long Reach which was launched on the 16 June, 2020 ,is a subsidiary of Operation Lafiya Dole, in the North East.
Maj. Gen. John Enenche, Coordinator, Defence Media Operations in a statement made available to Enugu Reporters said the operation was achieved through massive air strikes executed to mark the launch of Operation Long Reach, a
new subsidiary operation in the theatre,which was launched two days ago.
Enenche said, the attack at Garin Maloma, a major node in the BHT’s line of communication in the Sambisa Forest axis, was undertaken based on credible intelligence reports as well as days of surveillance missions indicating that the terrorists had begun using one of the compounds in the settlement for accommodation and training of their fighters.
“The ATF dispatched an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft and fighter jets to attack the location. Overhead the target area, many BHT fighters were observed in the vicinity of settlement, with a few around the solar panel-mounted, High Value Target (HVT) location.
“The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets engaged the location in successive waves of attacks leading to significant damage to numerous structures as well as killing of several terrorists”.
According to the Coordinator, some terrorists, who survived the first few waves and converged around the rubble near the damaged HVT compound, were taken out in subsequent follow-on attacks.
“The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who was in Maiduguri to flag-off Operation Long Reach commends the Air Task Force, directing them to intensify the air offensive against the terrorists and all other enemies of our Great Nation”. He added.
