SAN FRANCISCO, June 18, (THEWILL) – The claim that the Chadian military have conducted air strikes against six terrorist camps in Nigeria is not correct, Nigeria’s Defence Ministry said Thursday.
In a statement signed by Major General Chris Olukolade, Director, Defence Information, the military said as follows: “The fact is that the Nigerian Airforce surveillance mission identified targets tagged as Camp 6 around Bosso town which is not within Nigeria’s territory and alerted the partners accordingly.
The places reported to have been struck by the Chadians are therefore most likely to be in Niger Republic and not Nigeria as widely reported in the international media.
Although the terms of the multilateral and bilateral understanding with partners in the war against terror allow some degree of hot pursuit against the terrorists, the territory of Nigeria has not been violated as insinuated in the reports circulated in some foreign media.
The Nigerian military will continue to cooperate with partners in the mission to exterminate or contain terrorists strictly in conformity with existing terms of the Concept of Operation at strategic, operational or tactical levels.
It is however important that issues are accurately reported while avoiding misleading or unnecessary sensationalism from any quarter.”
The Chadian military in a statement late Wednesday said it carried out a series of air strikes against Boko Haram bases in Nigeria in retaliation for twin suicide bombings this week in the Chadian capital N’Djamena that killed at least 34 people.
The statement added that the strikes caused heavy human and material damage to six Boko Haram bases.
