Begins deployment of special squad in North-East

ACF accuses Jonathan of failing to protect North

The military yesterday intensified efforts to find an Alpha Jet (NAF 466), belonging to the Nigerian Air Force, which went missing on a mission to bomb some Boko Haram enclaves in Adamawa State. Earlier, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) had in a statement declared the jet, with two pilots on board “missing.” The declaration of the Alpha Jet as missing came about two months after a Mi-35 attack helicopter, also on a routine bombing operation in Bama, a town in Borno State, killing the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Onyeka Nwakile.

A statement by the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, said the fighter jet, which disappeared “around Adamawa State, with two pilots aboard, left Yola, the state capital, at about 10:45 am on Friday.”

The jet, which was said to be on a “routine operational mission”, according to the statement, was expected back at noon on Friday. However, all efforts made to establish contacts with the ill-fated jet’s pilot, had been unsuccessful, the DHQ added. The statement was silent on whether or not investigations into the remote or immediate cause of the jet’s disappearance, had begun.

The declaration of the military jet as missing came amid intensification of aerial bombings of suspected Boko Haram hideouts in Borno and Adamawa States, following the full-scale war currently raging to end the insurgency unleashed on the country by the sect. New Telegraph learnt that for almost three days, officials of the Nigeria Air Force had been combing locations in Adamawa and Borno border areas to locate the jet. Military sources said the jet disappeared from the radar after it went for routine operations on Friday against Boko Haram.

They said the missing plane was among some aircraft deployed for intense aerial bombardment of Boko Haram fighters. The Nigerian military since early last week launched heavy air bombardment on Michika and Madagali towns that were overran by Boko Haram, just as the military had continued to shell locations believed to have a large concentration of insurgents. The aerial bombardment, insiders said, had left the Boko Haram insurgents suffering extensive losses in men and equipment.

The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced trainer aircraft co-manufactured by Dornier of Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France. Adopted by many air forces worldwide, the Alpha jet continues to be widely used even though its useful service life is over in France and Germany, its primary operators.

The aircraft has a maximum speed of 1,000 km/h with a combat radius of 610 km.

Its armament includes 2,500kg bombs, machine guns, rockets and Sidewinder missiles. Currently, the Alpha jet is the Air Force’s chief work-horse. However, local farmers in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State said yesterday that the missing jet might be the one that crashed at a place near Gabun Primary.