The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says it has deployed additional air assets under Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) in the North-central, where it recorded at least three accidental airstrikes.

According to a Facebook post the agency made on Tuesday, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Hasan Abubakar, made this known during an operational assessment visit to the Tactical Air Command in Makurdi.

This followed the brutal killings of more than 100 people in Yelewata, a border town in Guma LGA of Benue State, where armed Fulani militiamen terror ignited a two-day protest.

President Bola Tinubu condemned the attack and directed security chiefs to mobilise to restore normalcy.

“As long as peace is threatened, our resolve remains unshaken,” he said.

During the visit, Mr Abubakar, an air marshal, held a joint “high-level” meeting with the Chief of Army, Olufemi Oluyede, a representative of the Chief of Naval Staff, Olusegun Ferreira, and other key commanders. Updates were provided on the “heightened tempo of joint operations in Benue, Nasarawa, and Taraba States.”

Mr Abubakar revealed that the newly deployed aircraft has “enhanced operational reach, delivering real-time intelligence, close air support, and precision strikes that have dismantled militia camps and criminal hideouts.”

He emphasised that these actions align with the federal government’s drive to “stabilise the Middle Belt and reaffirmed NAF’s resolve to protect innocent lives and maintain pressure on all threat actors until peace is fully restored.”

As stated in the Facebook post, the service chiefs jointly underscored the importance of synergy among the armed forces, highlighting that it remains key to operational success.

Resorting to the use of airstrikes has helped the military in its fight against terrorism, but it always comes with a high price: unintended civilian casualties.

Between 2017 and 2024, accidental airstrikes killed more than 500 people in various parts of Nigeria, where terror groups have overstretched the ground forces.

In North-central, where NAF had just deployed more aircraft, such scenarios killed at least 53 people between 2022 and 2023 as documented here, here and here.