By Kingsley Omonobi

Fighter pilots of the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, who flew sorties and dropped ammunition payloads on the Boko Haram enclave of Sambisa Forest have told Vanguard that the deployment of several aircraft types by NAF with ‘night vision and interdiction capabilities’ caused severe damage on capabilities of the terrorists, leading to the down fall of Camp Zero.

Speaking under condition of anonymity, one of the pilots said the air craft types deployed for the final onslaught included the F7 supersonic attack jets; Alpha Jets, for close target attack; Mi35 helicopter gunships, for precision clear out; Super Puma attack helicopters and MI 24 patrol aircraft.

Also deployed were the two reconfigured ballistic defence capability aircraft recently received from the presidential air fleet.

The F7 bomber, which was the flagship of the attack squadron, took off after pre-dawn and pre-night surveillance flights had been made with digitised photos support.

This was then followed by close mopping up attacks by the alpha jets and the Mi35 gunships. The helicopters served as air ambulance and troop carrier for operational deployment.

Vanguard gathered that prior to stepping up the final push against the terrorist group; NAF locally reconfigured and weaponised three Alpha Jets for combat roles.

These jets were acquired by previous administrations without weapon delivery capability in the heat of troop’s offensive to recapture seized territories before the 2015 elections.

The Hercules C-130 aircraft and the medium range G-333 aircraft airlifted logistics and military weaponry used for the final attack from the various armament depots in Kaduna and Lagos to the operational zone.

The pilot said several airlifts of wounded soldiers and other casualties, which gave troops a sense of reassurance about their colleagues, were also conducted by the air force.