The military has commenced an operation in Sambisa Forest in Borno State to flush out the Boko Haram. The forest is widely believed to host some of the training camps and facilities of the deadly sect.
It was learnt that the military high command decided to invade the vast forest in order to make the North-West safe for the general elections.
A reliable source in the Army told PUNCH in Abuja that Air Force jets started the raid on Monday. He added that surveillance activities and raids were going on simultaneously against Boko Haram.
The source, who did not want his name in print because he was not authorised to speak on the development, said that massive ground operation would follow the aerial operations .
He said, “The military started an operation in the Sambisa Forest on Monday. For now, there are no specific cases of arrest; we don’t have that information now. The Air Force has been operating in the area since Monday. It is after that that the ground troops who are on red alert would be moved in.”
Also, a source close to an office strategic to the operations said that a lot of activities were going on simultaneously in the forest and other parts of the North-East believed to host Boko Haram camps.
He explained that the military was combing the forest because of intelligence reports that some of the insurgents who were dislodged from some communities in the North- East were moving back to the forest.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram fighters attacked Chadian army positions in Gamboru, Borno State on Wednesday but were beaten back. The Chadian troops are in Gamboru as part of a regional offensive against the islamist sect, which had staged several cross-border attacks over the past week.
“We knew they were going to attack us. We were waiting. The battle didn’t last long. They fled,” a Chadian soldier said.
