Defence Headquarters Denies Chadian Air Strikes in Nigeria

The Defence Headquarters on Thursday denied claims that the Chadian military has carried out air strikes on some Boko Haram targets in Nigeria.

DHQ said it suspected that the areas attacked by Chadian forces might likely be in Niger Republic.

The Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, made the clarifications in a statement in Abuja.

The statement said: “The claim that the Chadian military has conducted air strikes against six terrorist camps in Nigeria is not correct.

“The fact is that the Nigerian Air Force 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 Chadian 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.”