₦airaland Forum

Mike..ZA:
Technologically the Griffin is ahead of the F7. Your air force crushed 3 of their F7 jets that says a lot about your "pilot skill and training".

The Gripen may have advantages in it's avionics suite, but please the F7 crashes can't be attributed to pilot error. One caught fire during "touch and go" landings, burst into flames killing the pilot.

The second, the pilot ejected due to mechanical failure.

The third, the trainer FT-7, also had mechanical problems when instructor and trainee pilots ejected. This resulted in their grounding.

Boko haram: COAS meets Military commanders


By Wale Odunsi on October 5, 2013











Onyeabor-Azubuike-Ihejirika-292x300Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, has met with Military Commanders on reappraisal of their strategies against the Boko Haram.

Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru, at a press briefing on Friday, assured that 7 Division, Nigerian Army (NA), which became operational on August 22, 2013, has continued to conduct counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations to meet the security needs of the people.

He said,“As apart of routine review, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, has just concluded a meeting with top Military Commanders from all major formations of the Nigerian Army.




“The purpose of the meeting was to reappraise the counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency efforts in the North- East with a view to build on future plans,” he said.

On whether the sect’s kingpin, Shekau, was death or alive, he said investigations were still ongoing to find out the truth.

“In the last few weeks, there were incidences of Boko Haram terrorists’ unprovoked, malicious attack and wanton destruction of lives and property in Benisheikh, Buni-yadi and Gujba.

“The NA has since commenced operations aimed at apprehending the insurgents involved in these dastardly acts. Several insurgents’ camps have been effectively neutralised.”

While acknowledging that the NA has been working with other security agencies in the fight against insurgency, he called on the local communities to always provide information about suspicious movements in their localities.

“Let me appeal to local residents in the affected states to promptly report the presence of insurgents in their localities by contacting the nearest military or police locations,” the spokesman added.

http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/10/05/boko-haram-coas-meets-military-commanders/

CraigB: I see also that Naai-gerian commercial aviation is still useless. I shake my head.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24381066

A plane carrying 20 people has crashed shortly after take-off from Lagos airport in Nigeria, officials say.

A rescue operation is ongoing. At least 13 people are known to have died and several more of those on board were injured.

The Associated Airlines plane was bound for Akure, which lies about 140 miles (225km) north-east of Lagos.

The plane's engine appeared to fail and the aircraft plunged to the ground and burst into flames, officials said.

That was a private chartered flight not a commercial airline. Show me where in the world plane crashes don't occur?

Boko Haram: 186 killed, 15 arrested as Military raids insurgents’ camp in Yobe


By Maina Maina on October 3, 2013











soldiersUnconfirmed reports in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital revealed that over 186 Boko haram insurgents connected with the bloody massacre of about 70 students at College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe state have been killed in recent attacks by men of the 7 Division Nigerian Army.

The military, who have been in search of the suspected members of the Boko Haram sect launched aerial bombardment on new camps sighted via satellite .

Residents of Damaturu told DailyPost that the men of the Joint task Force had claimed on Thursday that they killed scores of the insurgents who perpetrated the act of killing innocent travelers as well as the attack on the College of Agriculture in Gujba town.

It was learnt that the military raided the camps of the insurgents near Mazari village and arrested about 15 suspects.

According to reports, the offensive military raid of the terrorists hideouts was intensified last Sunday when some gunmen suspected to be members of dreaded Boko Haram sect attacked the college’s dormitory and opened fire on the students in their sleep before they fled without being arrested.




The Spokesman of the JTF in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, Captain Eli Lazarus however, told Journalists on Thursday that with the assistance of air strikes and ground troops, the hideouts of the terrorists believed to be the ones who carried separate attacks in the College, Yadi Buni and roadside attacks were identified.

He said following exchange of gunfire with the troops and the terrorists at their camps in Mazari village, scores of the terrorists were killed, while 15 of them were arrested in different locations in Gujba, Yadi Buni towns in an attempt to flee from the offensive military raid.

“Our troops on ground in collaboration with air strike bombardment were able to identify a terrorist’s camp in Mazari village, the camp is suspected to be the one harbouring the Boko Haram sects who launched a deadly attack on Gujba College of Agriculture last Sunday where they killed and injured many students.

“Consequently, when we raided the said camp, our men were able to kill many of the terrorists, destroyed the camp and arrest 15 of them who are now helping the military with vital information on how to locate some of their camps in the bushes”, Eli said.

He, therefore, assured the general public that the security agencies were doing everything possible in protecting lives and property in the state.

He, however, urged all and sundry to cooperate with the military by giving information to the JTF on the hideouts of terrorists or any suspicious movement in their localities, so as to nip terrorism in the bud.


http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/10/03/boko-haram-military-combats-insurgents-in-borno-yobe-camps/

Army Detonates Boko Haram Bombs in Maiduguri



04 Oct 2013






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Defence-Headquarters-0812.jpg - Defence-Headquarters-0812.jpg


Defence Headquarters





•Kills several terrorists, arrests 15 in Yobe



Michael Olugbode 




The Nigerian Army yesterday begun the detonation of bombs recovered from the outlawed Boko Haram sect during the recently concluded military operations in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, tagged (Operation BOYONA).

This is coming as the military also disclosed that it killed several members of the sect and arrested 15 others in Yobe State, following their alleged killing of 40 students of the College of Agriculture, Gujba, last weekend.

In a statement yesterday, the spokesman of the 7 Division of Nigerian Army in Borno State, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, said the military would be destroying large quantities of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) recovered during the recent operations in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States (Operation BOYONA).

He warned residents and members of Chabbal, a community in the outskirts of Maiduguri, including farmers and herdsmen to remain indoors, as the exercise commenced today.

On the recent attacks and killings on the Maiduguri-Damaturu road and in Benishiekh town, the spokesman said: “Following the recent strikes on this road and Benishiekh, by the suspected Boko Haram terrorists, the 7 Division of Nigerian Army is seriously concerned and is acting with the view to containing this ugly trend, not only on the affected road, but other roads; as well as in its other areas of responsibility.

“The whole effort is to destroy terrorism and ensure the protection of people’s life and property. Members of the public are requested to continue to remain resilient and security conscious at all times, as the 7 Military Division is poised to eradicating this madness.”
In another development, the spokesman of the Army in Damaturu, Captain Eli Lazarus, in a statement, said several members of the terrorists group were killed in a ground and air strikes, which was carried out by officers and men of the command.

“After the attack on the college of Agriculture in Gujba, our men carried out an operation around the Gujba axis and a camp of the insurgent was raided and several members of the insurgents were killed while 15 others were arrested,” Lazarus said.
According to him, those arrested are currently undergoing investigation and have been given useful information to the military that will help track down the hoodlums.
He said the military are strategising and would soon come up with new measures, which would curtail the activities of the insurgents.



http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/army-detonates-boko-haram-bombs-in-maiduguri/160652/

Special forces bomb B’Haram hideouts in Yobe, Borno

October 3, 2013 by Fidelis Soriwei, Abuja 21 Comments






Soldiers


Military special forces on Wednesday carried out a major operation against the Boko Haram fighters at a forest region between Borno and Yobe states.

A security source said the special forces, who carried out an aerial surveilance of the area, discovered a major camp of the insurgents some kilometers away from the Yobe State School of Agriculture, Gujba, where about 90 students were murdered on Sunday.

The source said that the operation was one of the biggest offensives of the Nigerian military against the Boko Haram since the declaration of the emergency rule by President Goodluck Jonathan in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

Investigations revealed that three Alpha jets, several heavy artillery weapons and a large number of ground forces of the Division 7 of the Nigerian Army in Borno and Yobe states participated in the operation.

Although, the source could not give the casualty figure in the operation, he stated that the camp was one of the largest to have been discovered and could contain hundreds of insurgents.

It was further stated that the entire forest was engulfed in a thick fire as at the time of filing the reports.

A highly placed Defence Headquarters source said that the military devised “a strategy to box them in” to prevent them from escaping during the operation.

It was learnt that the men of the Joint Task Force in Yobe and those in Maiduguri were deployed simultaneously alongside three Alpha jets of the Nigerian Air Force during the Wednesday raid by the military.

The source said that the Nigerian military sustained the fierce attack on the terrorists’ enclave all through the operation that lasted several hours.

The source said, “The operation today was a massive one. Heavy artillery guns were deployed, Air Force, and ground troops from Borno and Yobe were deployed in large number.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/special-forces-bomb-bharam-hideouts-in-yobe-borno/

Nigerian Navy pilots training in Greece.

http://www.superior-air.gr/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Helo-270x220.jpg

http://www.superior-air.gr/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/nigerians-270x220.jpg

http://www.superior-air.gr/category/news-events/page/2/

Great photos @andrewza

andrewza: this line made me laugh

"This is Kenya. Let's just face it, what's lost is lost."

That also made me smile along with

"His brother Yasser said: "We know who's done it but what can we do? They ransacked it. The military secured the place and in that time the place is emptied."

I suppose it also meant securing the goods

http://allafrica.com/stories/201309290176.html

See emboldened section.

Nigeria: FG Redeploys Troops From Mali in North East
By Bayo Oladeji and Joshua Dada, 28 September 2013






The federal government through the Nigerian Army has set December this year as the deadline for ending the menace of Boko Haram insurgents in the north-east zone.

To meet the target, the government has sent more fighter jets to the zone to hunt for members of the Boko Haram sect, who have scaled up their attacks especially on rural communities in Borno State in the last one month.

The government has also deployed troops withdrawn from Mali to man flashpoints in the three states.

[b]Impeccable sources said the plan of the military is to complete the "operation wipe out Boko Haram" by December this year.

The new offensive, according to military sources, "is the final onslaught against the Boko Haram terrorists in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Soldiers will comb everywhere for the remaining members of the sect. This mandate is from the Army Headquarters."

Although military officials declined comments on the number of fighter jets sent to the region, a serving general of the Nigerian Army, who did not want his name on print, confirmed the operation.

LEADERSHIP Weekend learnt that an order has also been given to the new 7 Division of the Nigerian Army "to wipe out every trace of the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east". Other divisions are to keep watch over their areas to ensure "there is no hiding place for them," the source added.

The army general said the new division was set up by the government to stamp out the Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast since the then Joint Task Force (JTF) approach did not work well as the political elite had discredited it.

He said: "You remember, it was the JTF that was cracking down on the terrorists. Ideally, JTF is an ad-hoc arrangement; it should not be a prolonged approach, but they were left there for a long time and the people were complaining against them. The politicians and the elders in Borno State called for their withdrawal. That was why 7 Division was created -- to finish what the JTF had begun; we don't want to hear anything called Boko Haram again by the end of this year."

The source further explained that the essence of creating the 7 Division has been justified as "our soldiers have taken the battle to the terrorists' cells, smoking them out from the hills and, if the tempo is sustained, by the end of October, nothing would be heard of them again".

LEADERSHIP Weekend also learnt that the division has been fortified with anti-aircraft and anti- tank guns mounted on vehicles, and the Air Force fighter jets are being used "to smoke the terrorists out of their hidden places. "Most of the returnee soldiers from Mali are part of the troops deployed to the division for reinforcement," he said.
[/b]
When asked to react to the "resurrection" story of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the sect, the source dismissed it with a wave of the hands. He stated: "Shekau is dead! Do you hear me well? Shekau is dead. If he were to be alive, it would not have taken the insurgents weeks to come up claiming the dead man is alive. They are making the claim for some reasons. For example, the claim would help them to receive support from those who are backing them for the fear of Shekau and they need the claim in order not to look weak before their colleagues outside the country." Although the army spokesman, Brig-Gen. Attahiru Ibrahim, did not speak in detail on the ongoing war against the terrorists, when asked to comment on the performance of the 7 Division and its assignment to deal with the terrorists, he simply said "the 7 Division is doing well". He referred our correspondent to his address at the last press briefing where he gave a vivid account of the success of the division.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304795804579100944028167308.html

For African Generals, Drones Are The Latest Thing
Aircraft Are Being Used to Track Militants, Poachers and Drug Traffickers.
Article Comments more in AFRICA | Find New $LINKTEXTFIND$ ».
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By DREW HINSHAW Taking a cue from the U.S., more African governments are spying from the skies.

From Kenya to Nigeria, African air forces are acquiring surveillance drones—often made in the U.S.—to track militants, poachers and drug traffickers moving across vast and often inhospitable terrain.

The drive to expand Africa's air surveillance comes as the U.S. seeks to outsource some of its work fighting terrorism in the world's most remote places.

"Controlling the borders, the arms trafficking," said Col. James Birungi of Uganda, in explaining how drones can meet his country's security challenges. "We have seen that this equipment can do all that for us.


After a flurry of terrorist attacks across Africa this week, governments on the continent are looking for a quick fix. Shooting sprees in Kenya and Nigeria each left scores of people dead, illustrating why governments that already struggle to give their citizens tap water or electricity might spend millions of dollars on 21st century surveillance planes.

In recent years, [b]Nigeria and Ethiopia [/b]have purchased small fleets of drones to track militants and pirates, according to air force officials in Nigeria and the U.S. Last year, the U.S. agreed to give eight small drones to Kenya to monitor al Qaeda-backed rebels there, according to Pentagon documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, two U.S. Air Force officials said Botswana has approached them requesting drones to track their endangered population of elephants.

For the past few years, the U.S. Air Force has dispatched about a hundred small groups of advisers annually to Africa, said these U.S. Air Force officials, who weren't authorized to be identified by name. Those U.S. Air Force advisers say they are training mechanics, pilots, technicians, and intelligence analysts in roughly 20 African countries.

At a higher level, U.S. Air Force generals say they're talking regularly with defense leaders in Africa—and increasingly are pushing surveillance aircraft as a cost-efficient way to quash the many insurgencies cropping up across the continent.

Two of those officers, U.S. Air Force Gen. Frank Gorenc and Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, spoke about the initiative in broad terms, describing it as an effort to farm out some of America's anti-terrorism work.

For the U.S., African assistance, however minimal, could help ease pressure on America's own fleet of drones. The U.S. Air Force keeps tabs on Africa, a continent three times the size of the U.S., with only two drone bases. They are 2,500 miles apart, in Niger in West Africa and in Djibouti in the east.

"This continent has too often been land-centric; we solve our problems with land forces," said Gen. Franklin. But he said he'd seen a change: "From the smallest countries, you have air chiefs that…are thinking about: 'OK, with this amount of resources, what can we do?'"

U.S. military assistance to African countries comes as many of them are growing richer and the cost of surveillance equipment is sharply falling. It's an auspicious confluence of trends for defense contractors in the U.S. and elsewhere that are seeking a toehold on the continent.

Last month, the U.S. Air Force created a private website for African defense chiefs—a social network where they could share product reviews, and go in on bulk purchases together.

Earlier this year, Ghana purchased a DA42 surveillance plane, manufactured by Austria's Diamond Aircraft Industries. Defense industry analysts estimated the price at roughly $10 million. U.S. and Ghanaian officials say the country flies the aircraft over the ocean, inspecting ships plying pirate-infested waters. The plane maker's chief executive, Christian Dries, says he's sold similar surveillance planes to Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and South Africa.

"We have steady orders," he said. "Definitely, this market is growing."

A half dozen other countries—among them Senegal, Uganda and Mauritania—are looking to purchase similar aircraft, say U.S. officials. "We have a real need for these things," said Senegal's General Ousmane Kane. Asked what surveillance assets his air force currently possessed, he pointed to his face and said "above all, what we have are our eyes."

For defense contractors, African air budgets represent a still-small but fast-growing market. Having failed to maintain their previous air fleets, many African governments are paying vendors this time around to toss in contracts for maintenance, technical support and training, said retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, now a defense consultant with experience working in Africa.

"It's a great business for these folks," he said. "There is a lot of gold in those hills."

But Africa's entry into drone surveillance also has raised legal and human rights questions. The laws in most African countries provide citizens with scant legal protection in the types of images the government can capture, how they can be used and who can have access to them.

"We're in kind of a legal limbo," said Research Director Emmanuel Kwesi Aning at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. "Nobody is discussing it. It shows the backwardness and the naivety of our partners."

In countries like Nigeria, there are human rights concerns, too. The lead army unit there, called the Joint Task Force, is accused of burning down entire villages, killing civilians, and torturing prisoners to death. Nigerian generals deny those reports, which they say are propaganda spread by terrorists to discredit their army. Still, U.S. human rights law bans the U.S. from working with the Nigerian unit. And yet the U.S. Air Force legally can and does advise the Nigerian air force, whose plane-gathered intelligence winds up in the hands of JTF troops.

"We regularly stress to our partners in Africa the importance of respecting human rights," said an emailed statement from the U.S. State Department on that assistance.

On a recent afternoon, five African air force commanders returned from a U.S.-sponsored tour of Ghana's recently-purchased surveillance plane. The U.S.'s Gen. Franklin, who'd accompanied the tour, said his resources to monitor militants across the continent are stretched thin.

"Oh man, I'll tell you, I am so excited," said Gen. Franklin. "If they take care of the problem themselves, we don't have to worry about it."

Write to Drew Hinshaw at drew.hinshaw@dowjones.com

A version of this article appeared September 28, 2013, on page A8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Africa's Generals Turning to Drones.

Back News Information News New maritime security strategy in West Africa


New maritime security strategy in West Africa



Nigeria, 4 others to implement new maritime security strategy - Determined to effectively curtail crude oil theft, piracy and other illegalities within their territorial waters, Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin Republic, Togo and Niger are working out the implementation of a new maritime security strategy.


The Nigerian Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, told journalists in Abuja Thursday that in addition to the larger regional effort, the Nigerian and Cameroonian Navies are leading the establishment of mutual maritime security patrol framework for their territorial waters.

He said that both Nigeria and Cameroon are also involved in ongoing talks towards implementing cross border joint security agreement to ensure the security of their joint borders, both land and maritime borders.

This will enable them also tackle the threat of terrorism within their borders, he added.

Represented by the Director of Operations, Naval Headquarters, Commodore Joseph Okojie, Admiral Ezeoba also announced that the Nigerian Navy will next month host a 21-day major combined military exercise, the AFRICAN WINDS, a programme funded by United States under its African Partnership Station.

The international programme involves trainings and exercises in Lagos, Calabar and Oron and the participating countries include Nigeria, Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom and Spanish Marines and the Special forces of the Dutch Navy Amphibious support ship, HMNLS POTTERDAM, he indicated.

The trainings will take place in Lagos (3-14 October) and Calabar (7-20 October) while the exercises are scheduled in Lagos from 15-16 October and at Calabar/Oron from 21-24 October.

Ezeoba said that “the exercises will cover company level amphibious raid, marine counter terrorism, sea mine identification and disposal, oil rig protection, riverine operations, insertions and extraction. The exercise is meant to improve the capacity of the Nigerian Armed Forces to plan and execute joint operations in a maritime environment.”

The Naval Chief also stated that the Nigerian Navy will participate in the forthcoming Sea Power Symposium, scheduled for November in Dakar, Senegal.

The Nigerian Navy is tasked with the protection of critical maritime assets and infrastructure, including 5,779 oil wells, 9,717-kilometres of pipelines, 112 flow stations, 16 gas plants and 126 production platforms, Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSOs) and Floating Storage Offloading (FSOs) platforms.

In trumpeting its own scorecard in mitigating the effects of oil theft, piracy and other illegalities, Ezeoba said that between January and September this year, over 968 crude oil tankers successfully lifted 82,122,452 metric tonnes of crude oil on behalf of the federal government without being attacked by sea robbers or pirates.

He said it also foiled about 64 unsuccessful attacks of sea robbery and piracy and also carried out coordinated operations with the Nigerian Air force which led to the rescue of two petroleum products vessels, MT NORTE and MT CROW, attacked by pirates on 13 August, 2013.

He also said that from January to August this year, the Navy, in conjunction with the Joint Task force (Operation PULO SHIELD) and other security agencies, “has to a large extent blunted the ability of crude oil thieves, pipeline vandals and pirates and robbers in carrying out their nefarious acts.

Furthermore, between January, 2012 to August, 2013, about 25 vessels were taken in by the Nigerian Navy for involvement in crude oil theft and illegal bunkering.

'We have destroyed about 1,348 illegal refineries, 99 barges, 1,224 (Cotonou) boats and 61,844 auxiliary equipment between January to August this year,” Ezeoba added.

The Navy also announced that it is working out rules for deployment of armed security personnel aboard merchant vessels as a way of deterring the incidence of piracy and other sea crimes.

According to Ezeoba, “the Nigerian Navy has domesticated the IMO (International Maritime Organisations) provisions on the employment of Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel (PCASP) on merchant ships and would be activated on the promulgation of a draft Standing Operating Procedure (SOP).

'Also, the draft bill on piracy and other unlawful acts at sea, as proposed by NIMASA, is aimed at combating piracy and robbery at sea and provide legal backing to the fight against piracy and other crimes at sea.”

Pana 27/09/2013

http://www.afriquejet.com/news/12191-new-maritime-security-strategy-in-west-africa.html

Mike..ZA:
Have we seen any USA base overran by militants? NO. Is the USA army getting whopped by militants at home? No. Nigeria is losing the war against BH.

No Nigerian Military base has ever been overrun by BH. They have attacked but been repelled.

Was it not the USA and her NATO allies' sovereign air base in Afghanistan that was attacked, I think it was last year, which killed several American air force personnel as well as destroying a few Harrier Jump jets?

Any country fighting an insurgency will always get attacked. Ask the Colombians, Indians, Pakistanis etc. No point in saying the USA are not at home. They might well be considering they even had over 100,00 troops in Afghanistan at one stage and were still getting attacked.

Henry120: To be honest, I do not know. The QRF team is a tactical team like the navy's SBS. So what I think is, if one of the nation's airport is attacked, the first respondents would be the security team on the group ( police and airforce ratings). The idea of the airforce QRF is for the airforce to have a tactical team ready to go in the shortest possible time. Some might be based close to the nation's airport, while others in the city itself. Again, I do not know for sure.

Ok thanks. it was a bit of a difficult question to answer unless one is part of the outfit.

Henry120: Photo 1, Nigerian Airforce QRF conduct an exercise simulating a terror attack in the nation's airports.

Do you know if the NAF QRF teams are based in every NAF airport facility or centrally or in zones (minus operationally)? I am just curious as I was wondering what reaction times are like.

GH KWAME: So far so g00d! The topic is focused sha.

Nice pictures.

Fighter Pilot: Bro! Come on I am not confusing anything here. Irrelevance, of the terrain (Bush or Jungle), soldiers cannot be left to scatter around in disarray. They should be channelled to fight in order by their commander, same as when you are playing chess. None of your pieces should be left unattended without a back up. If you play chess, you will understand what am I speaking about. I fail to understand how will the commander end up with his men killed by friendly fire because that will raise a lot of questions about the competence of the commander in organising his forces.

Did I miss something. Who said any soldier was killed by friendly fire?

Talking about friendly fire, I read in The Mail (UK) newspaper regarding the Kenyan Mall atrocity and I quote;

[b]"In a final act of terror, the last remaining terrorist hid so troops believed they had secured the building. As they relaxed, thinking all the terrorists were dead, he emerged and gunned down another four soldiers. Two other soldiers were reportedly killed by friendly fire."

Make of the above whet you will. It may be on the on-line version as well.

Mike..ZA:
It depends on a country. Nigeria's divisions can easily be exploited against it. Besides we must consider the fact that militants from other countries are now in that country. Mostly veterans of the Libyan civil war,If Nigeria will get to any armour war against this militants. Many fronts will be opened in the country. Nigeria might even get to war with its neighbours,because Nigeria might think some countries are reluctant to deal with the terrorists running supplies through their boarders. Which is what they're doing now. Boko Haram is the result of politicians failing the North. Religion is just a tool used to mobilise or recruit men by clever BH leaders.

This is a case of not understanding a country's history. No part of the country was favoured over another part. Each state government has it's own budget from the Federal Government as well as from local means. By heck!, some state governments have bigger yearly budgets that some of the other West African countries.

If some corrupt politicians decide to not make full use of their resources, who do you blame?

BH would not survive an armoured war against Nigeria.

Henry120: I've seen the video on both TVC news(nigerian) and eNCA. He is alive.

Shekau must have initially been indisposed because he used a stand-in in the August video. Injured? Maybe.

Henry120: This is correct. the last navy SBS photos I posted are from guys currently in the field.

And what good photos they were.

Thiza: A major problem about spin doctors is that when exposed they balme everyone accept themselves....Nairas where over the moon when SANDF soldiers where killed and they believe everthing that was said by rebels than South African media....even disputing the death toll. Nigerians were adamant about the 40 soldiers killed inspite of the overwhelming eveidence that 13 soldiers were killed.

why now should I doubt Premium media about Nigerian casualties and cowardly behaviour

It was the same Premium Times that said Nigerian soldiers were starving in Mali contrary to pictures of provisions transported to Mali.

You can believe what you read in their publication if you want, at least it will enable you score cheap shots.

Thiza: Nigeria's army said Thursday it was trying to verify the authenticity of a video that appeared to show Boko Haram's leader mocking reports that he may have been killed. A security task force last month said wanted Islamist insurgent commander Abubakar Shekau "may have died" from a gunshot wound after a clash with soldiers on June 30.

In a video seen by AFP Wednesday, a man resembling past images of Shekau taunted the regional military spokesman who suggested he had been killed. "We cannot say at this juncture whether the claim is true or false until we authenticate the veracity of the video," army spokesman Ibrahim Attahiru told AFP. "The army authorities have to verify the claim. This is precisely what we are doing," he said. The initial statement concerning Shekau's possible death came from a military spokesman based in the northeast, Boko Haram's stronghold. National defence spokesman Chris Olukolade has told AFP that statement may have been issued prematurely and that the military lacked definitive proof of Shekau's death. Shekau has been declared a global terrorist by the United States, which put a $7 million bounty (5.2 million euros) on his head. He leads an Islamist group which has been blamed for scores of deadly attacks across northern and central Nigeria. It was not clear when or where the latest video was recorded, but in it Shekau claims recent attacks in the northeast. "I want the whole world to know that I'm alive by the grace of Allah," he says in the Hausa language. Boko Haram has said its four-year insurgency is aimed at creating an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north. Nigeria in mid-May imposed a state of emergency across most of the restive northeast and launched an ongoing offensive aimed at crushing the insurgency.

@AGAUGUSTUS EMBARRASED AGAIN

HERE IS THE VIDEO
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24274818

And it is a still picture from a video released in July and filmed earlier.

GeneralJ: I don't know, its notliek theres anything wrong with it i just feel like the Special forces need some diversity you know, not just 5.56, they need some 7.62, not just bullpup, they also need rifles and carbines you know. They need to start developing skills with 9mm like the mp5, for urban warfare. just my 1 cent

What special forces personnel use depends on the operational environment.

Thiza: A STORY OF FLEEGING NIGERIAN SOLDIER @AGAUSGUSTUS..........HAHAHAHHAHH REMEMBER BANGUI

Fleeing soldiers

A soldier in Benisheik said they could not stand the superior fire power of Boko Haram.

“They were using anti-aircraft guns while we were using AK47 rifles and some RPGs. They came in droves driving about 20 pickup trucks accompanied by two light armored tankers, all wearing our military colours – desert-camo . We had to retreat to our base to reinforce after running out of arms. But they followed us down there, surrounded our base and began to to shell our building. We couldn’t stand the heat of their superior fire power. We had to retreat into the village after they killed two of our soldiers and three policemen. They left with an armoured tanker and four military patrol trucks,” the soldier said.

At the palace of the district head of Benisheik, where vehicles were taken away and one burnt, a staff, Abacha Wakil, narrated to journalists how the gunmen attacked and beheaded people in the village.

“The Boko Haram gunmen invaded the town at about 7:45 p.m., after attacking the military base at the outskirts of the town. The soldier ran to us here at the palace of the District Head and warned us to run for our dear lives. They said they had ran out of ammunition and the terrorists are carrying sophisticated arms.

“No sooner had the soldiers warned us than the Boko Haram gunmen arrived in droves; all dressed in military uniforms and carrying guns. They came in about 30 vehicles. We had to run for our lives. I took refuge inside the millet plantation near the District Head’s palace. The gunmen spread out and began to shoot and set houses ablaze. They did not leave until about 3:30 am. We all spent the night inside the bush. In the morning, we found that they had beheaded 14 persons, mostly those in the Civilian-JTF, and left with at least 21 vehicles and a Tata truck filled with food items looted from the shops they also set ablaze.”

Mr. Wakil said most of the young men killed were beheaded.

“Their bodies were completely separated from their bodies. The death could have been more if the soldiers had not run down to warn us in good time that we should run for dear lives.”

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/145118-untold-story-of-how-boko-haram-overrun-nigerian-soldiers-massacre-hundreds-in-borno.html

When will you learn not to quote Premium Times?

chris365: it's old news. weeks before the SOE

notice the the director of army public relations had been changed long ago.

I don't think it is old news as Brig Gen Attahiru is the current spokesperson for the army and it does mention the SOE as well as the forest where the battle took place.

Thanks to all who have been posting pictures. Pictures speak a thousand words. A special thanks to Henry120 especially with the continued absence of Beeg.

The below post is fro a beegeagle blogger. He didn't put a link, so not sure of the source;


Strong indications have emerged that Islamic militants from some North African countries are coordinating attacks against the Nigerian military in the North Eastern part of the country.

A military source told one of our correspondents in Abuja that security operatives came to this conclusion when they discovered that many Arabs of Shuwa descent and fair-skinned people from Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia, Algeria and Niger, were among those whose bodies were found after some of the recent encounters with the militants.

The source said, “We strongly believe that the foreign militants under the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb are coordinating the attacks against our men in the troubled North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

“We have seen fairs-skinned corpses and those of Arabs of Shuwa descent. We believe they are from countries like Algeria, Mauritania, Niger, Sudan and Somalia. It is very possible they are helping the Nigerian insurgents like those in Boko Haram in coordinating attacks against our men.”

Our correspondent learnt that there were strong feelings in the military that the militants who still have several bases in the thick forests of the northern part of Borno State, were among those chased out of Mali by the French and the West African troops led by Nigeria.

The militants are said be be armed with Rocket Propelled Grenades and General Purpose Machine Guns which are more sophisticated than the AK 47 used by the Nigerian troops.

Another security source told our correspondent that the RPG released to the Nigerian troops were obsolete compared to those being wielded by the militants from North Africa and their Boko Haram allies.

Findings indicated that the level of preparedness and calibre of arms in possession of the militants were responsible for ‘the high casualty on the Nigerian side.’

The Director of Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, had said during a press conference a week ago that the Army lost 15 soldiers with nine others missing during the attack by militants in the Kasiya Forest in Ngazai Local Government Area of Borno State.

Last Sunday and Monday morning, the insurgents launched another rounds of attacks on the Nigerian troops, necessitating the deployment of more fighter jets in the troubled states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

It was learnt that the fighter jets immediately commenced monitoring the activities of the insurgents in the three states which are under emergency rule.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, is said to be personally supervising the use of fighter jets and the Air Force personnel supporting the Army in the fight against the insurgents.

It was also gathered that a major offensive planned by the Army with aerial back up from the Air Force resulted in the killing of a good number of the insurgents on Monday night.

Our source couldn’t give the casualty figure in the latest attack.

The Director of Air Information, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, confirmed the deployment of Alpha jets as well as M1, 35 and M1,34 helicopters in the operational areas.

Anas also confirmed that Badeh was in Maiduguri to supervise the latest deployment and the personnel of the Air Force assisting the the Army in the campaign against terrorism.

He said, “It is true; we have deployed M1, 35 and M1,34 helicopters and Alpha jet aircraft. They are there to support the Nigerian Army in curtailing the security situation in the North-East.

“I cannot give you the exact number but the figure is adequate to perform the role for which they were deployed. I know that in the past nine months, we have always had NAF helicopters there; they are engaged in patrol purposes, medical services, medical evacuation and also offensive roles; that is, they are also used for attacks.

“In addition to that, the Air Force has deployed Alpha jets aircraft to participate in the operation. I can also confirm that the Chief of Air staff was in Maiduguri to monitor the deployment and supervise our personnel who are involved in the operation.”