A Boko Haram faction has claimed responsibility for shooting down the Nigerian Air Force’s Alpha-jet aircraft, NAF-475, which went missing during an interdiction mission in Borno State.
On Wednesday, March 31, the NAF had declared the aircraft missing after going off the radar with two crew members on board.
The NAF had said its intelligence report gathered by its surveillance aircraft, Special Forces, and ground troops indicated that the missing aircraft might have crashed.
A statement by the Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Headquarters, Edward Gabkwet, stated that the cause of the crash and the whereabouts of the two pilots remained unknown.
But on Friday, the insurgents released a video showing how they shot down jet mid-air.
The video footage, sighted by the HumAngle, showed the Boko Haram fighters carrying RPG and artillery equipment, as well as a corpse of the pilot and the aircraft’s debris.
Meanwhile, the NAF spokesperson said that extensive search and rescue efforts were still ongoing by the NAF surveillance aircraft as well as NAF Special Forces and Nigerian Army troops on the ground.
He added that even at the point they were, NAF was not ruling out anything regarding the incident.
He, however, remained hopeful that the crew would soon be found and rescued.
Details later…
