The Nigerian AirForce (NAF) on Tuesday buried the remains of five crew members, who died in the NAF Mi-35M Helicopter that crashed in combat on Jan. 2 in Borno.
\nMeanwhile, the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation LAFIYA DOLE has destroyed some terrorists\u2019 gun trucks in air strikes conducted at Auno in Borno State.
\nAuno, a town 24 kilometres to Maiduguri came under attack forcing residents to flee, some into nearby bushes for safety.
\nThe helicopter crashed while providing close air support to troops of 145 Battalion in Damasak, Borno.
\nThe late crew members are: Flight Lieutenant Perowei Jacob \u2013 Pilot in Command, Flight Lt- Kaltho Paul Kilyofas \u2013 Co-Pilot, Sgt. Auwal Ibrahim \u2013 Flight Technician, Lance Corporal Adamu Nura \u2013 Gunner, and Aircraftman Meshack Ishmael \u2013 Gunner.
\nThe News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports that the remains of the officers were laid to rest at 11:20am at the National Military Cemetery Abuja, with full military honours, amidst wails and tears by family members, wives, relatives and sympathisers.
\nWreaths were also laid by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali and the wives of some of the officers.
\nThe air chief also presented the National colours to the families of the deceased crew members.
\nNAN also reports that the burial ceremony was attended by representatives of the Service Chiefs, among other dignitaries.
\nThe late officers were honoured with 21 gun salute (Firing of Volley) as well as the Last Post.
\nThe air chief in his remarks at the internment ceremony said that the late officers died for the peace and unity of Nigeria.
\n\u201cThese gallant heroes lost their lives in the pursuit of the peace which we all enjoy and often take for granted. We salute the courage of these young men, whose lot it became to give their lives for this purpose.
\n\u201cThe loss of these courageous and professional gentlemen must spur the rest of us not only to rededicate ourselves in the service of our Nation, but also to expose and fight all agents of destabilization and extremism in our society.
\n\u201cWe must throw in everything we have to this fight to ensure that our departed colleagues did not die in vain.
\n\u201cWe must do everything possible to bring the ongoing insurgency in the North East to a speedy end that is favourable to our nation.
\n\u201cI am indeed deeply touched and saddened by the price which our patriots had to pay in this needless fight against insurgency.
\n\u201cOur departed heroes fought that we live in a safe and secure Nigeria where the freedom of worship and association of one and all are guaranteed under one indivisible nation,\u201d Abubakar said.
\nHe consoled with the families of the deceased, noting that \u201cI know Nigerians everywhere join me in praying for you as you shoulder this heavy burden of grief.
\n\u201cMay time ease the soaring pain of today and please note that the entire nation shares this grief with you.
\n\u201cThere can be no better consolation than the knowledge that the nation grieves with you on the loss of these amiable and patriotic Nigerians, who paid the supreme price in the course of their duty to the fatherland,\u201d he said.
\nThe attacks were executed, according to the Air Force spokesman, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, Monday whilst providing close air support for ground troops who were responding to an attack on their location.
\nIn Auno, the ATF, Daramola said in his statement, scrambled a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet and an Mi-35M Helicopter Gunship, supported by an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, to locate and engage the group of terrorists\u2019 gun trucks.
\nThe statement added: “Overhead the target area, the ground troops were seen engaging the terrorists, who were in a convoy of gun trucks, in a fierce gun battle. After deconfliction, the Alpha Jet and Mi-35M took turns in engaging the terrorists causing them to beat an immediate retreat.
\n“In the process, 3 gun trucks were hit and destroyed while several of their fighters were neutralized. The ball of fire from exploding munitions in one of gun trucks was visibly seen. Some of the survivors, who were seen attempting to flee the location, were taken out in follow-on attacks.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigerian AirForce (NAF) on Tuesday buried the remains of five crew members, who died in the NAF Mi-35M Helicopter that crashed in combat on Jan. 2 in Borno. Meanwhile, the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation LAFIYA DOLE has destroyed some terrorists\u2019 gun trucks in air strikes conducted at Auno in Borno State. Auno, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":14441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}