The Nigerian Air Force has launched fresh precision airstrikes against terrorist hideouts in the North-East, destroying key camps, logistics bases, and operational hubs in Bukar Meram and the Mandara Mountains following intelligence-led surveillance missions.

According to the military, several insurgents were killed during the coordinated bombardments, while planned attacks were disrupted as fighter aircraft targeted concealed terrorist facilities linked to ongoing insurgency operations.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, said the offensive forms part of a wider strategy to sustain intelligence-driven joint operations against terrorism, banditry, and organised criminal networks threatening national security.

At the same time, Nigeria renewed calls for stronger African-led military cooperation during the African Air Chiefs’ Symposium in Tunisia, where security leaders discussed joint counter-terrorism operations, intelligence sharing, and coordinated regional responses to rising instability across the continent.

Meanwhile, Presidential Adviser Daniel Bwala said Nigerians have a constitutional right to defend themselves against attackers, although he stressed that possession of firearms remains regulated under Nigerian law.

His remarks came amid growing outrage over kidnappings and killings across parts of the country, including the abduction of students and teachers in Oyo State.

Reacting to worsening insecurity, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde signed a new executive order regulating local vigilante and community security groups to prevent abuse, ethnic profiling, and illegal operations under the guise of self-defence.

Makinde warned residents against ethnic tensions while assuring families that efforts were ongoing to safely rescue abducted students and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area.

The Nigeria Labour Congress also joined calls for urgent action, warning that Nigerians were becoming exhausted and desensitised by repeated attacks, kidnappings, and killings nationwide.

NLC President Joe Ajaero said the country needed a complete overhaul of its security strategy, insisting that the fight against terror must shift from “a business approach” to a genuine survival mission aimed at protecting citizens before insecurity spirals completely out of control.