The claim that the Chadian military have conducted air strikes against six terrorists camps in Nigeria is not correct, the Defence Headquarters said on Thursday.
The position of the Defence Headquarters was contained in a statement by its spokesman, Major General Chris Olukolade.
Olukolade said the fact was 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 statement said 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.
Although the terms of the multilateral and bilateral understanding with partners in the war against terror allow some degree of hot pursuit against the terrorists, the territory of Nigeria has not been violated as insinuated in the reports circulated in some foreign media.
Olukolade added: “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.”