By Samuel Malik

The Nigerian military has refuted claims that Chadian troops carried out air strikes on Boko Haram camps inside Nigeria.

Defence spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, said the Nigerian  Airforce located the insurgents’ hideout in Bosso, which is outside the country, and alerted the Chadians.

“The fact is that the Nigerian Airforce surveillance mission identified targets tagged as Camp 6 around Bosso town which is not within Nigeria’s territory and alerted the partners accordingly. The places reported to have been struck by the Chadians are therefore most likely to be in Niger Republic and not Nigeria as widely reported in the international media,” Olukolade said, adding that although the terms of the joint force allowed for “some degree of hot pursuit against the terrorists,” the Nigerian territory was not entered.

“The Nigerian military will continue to cooperate with partners in the mission to exterminate or contain terrorists strictly in conformity with existing terms of the Concept of Operation at strategic, operational or tactical levels.

“It is however important that issues are accurately reported while avoiding misleading or unnecessary sensationalism from any quarter,” Olukolade stated.