An intelligence source privy to the ongoing mission to locate the missing Nigerain Air Force NAF aircraft, has said that the inclement weather poses a stumbling block to the search for the vehicle.
This is coming more than 36 hours after the NAF Alpha-Jet in combat operation “disappeared” in Borno State, with no traces of the aircraft have been found.
TheFact Nigeria had reported that the NAF Alpha-Jet on Wednesday, lost contact with radar, while on an interdiction mission in support of ground troops.Sources say it had been last seen flying around Goni Kurmiri and Njimia villages after attacking terrorist locations at the Sambisa Axis on Wednesday.
According to the source, “Though no trace of the wreckage has been found, bad and hazy weather has been a stumbling block lately in the military operation. The trained combat pilots have always responded to distress calls and emergency situations in the protection of troops and the citizens from activities of terrorists in the Northeast.
“We are still investigating and trying to find out what actually happened to the missing Alpha jet.”
The source added that though search-and-rescue operations have been intensified, ‘…we are yet to see any trace of the jet in the forest areas we have combed, across Borno State.”
Meanwhile, the Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, who arrived in Maiduguri Thursday morning to oversee the ongoing search-and-rescue efforts, while speaking with the troops, urged pilots, engineers and technicians to remain undeterred and resolute in their commitment to ensuring that peace returns to the North East.
