NAF Destroys Bomb Factory in Borno, Weeks After Deadly Suicide Attacks
The Nigeria Air Force (NAF) has announced that it conducted an airstrike that destroyed a suspected bomb factory located at Grazah, deep in the Mandara Hills, Borno State.
The Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Vice Marshal Edward Gabkwet, disclosed this in a statement released on Thursday, August 8, stating that the airstrike was in response to recent bomb attacks, particularly in Borno State.
“Concerned by recent attacks, especially on innocent civilians in Borno State using Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and suicide bombers, and in a bid to achieve the mandate of the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai, airstrikes were conducted on terrorists’ enclaves at Grazah, a location deep in the Mandara Hills, on August 2, 2024,” Gabkwet said.
Recall that Neusroom reported how teenage female suicide bombers detonated explosives during a wedding, a funeral, and at a hospital in Gwoza Local Government Area in Borno State, which left at least 18 people dead.
How NAF Conducted the Air Strike
Describing the operation, which was carried out on August 2, the Air Vice Marshal said that the IED factory had been under the surveillance of military operatives for weeks.
“For some time now, this IED factory was suspected to have been relocated, first from Gwoza to the Timbuktu Triangle in Sambisa Forest and finally to Grazah in the Mandara Hills,” Gabkwet said, adding that the facility was located and effectively destroyed.
“The aftermath of the airstrikes, followed by a thick cloud of smoke, was indicative that the suspected IED factory, as well as the two gun trucks, were effectively destroyed, while several terrorists were neutralized,” Gabkwet added.
