The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says 2025 ranks among its most decisive years in combat operations, announcing that no fewer than 2,351 terrorists were killed in a series of precision airstrikes carried out across multiple conflict theatres nationwide.
The figure, according to NAF, resulted from 274 air interdiction missions flown in 379 combat sorties, targeting major terrorist enclaves, logistics bases, training locations, and key mobility corridors that facilitate movement of fighters and weapons.
The air missions reportedly accounted for about 800 cumulative flight hours.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, said the air campaigns were driven largely by intelligence and coordinated joint operations with other security agencies.
“The Nigerian Air Force recorded one of its most decisive operational years, neutralising no fewer than 2,351 terrorists through sustained, intelligence-driven air operations across multiple theatres in 2025,” he said.
Ejodame added that the figures do not include hundreds of other missions involving intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; close air support to ground troops; and armed reconnaissance flights.
He explained that the sustained pressure from the air significantly weakened insurgent and bandit logistics chains and movement routes in the North-East, North-West, and North-Central, supporting ground forces to reclaim contested areas and deny armed groups sanctuary.
In the coastal and oil-bearing regions, Ejodame said precision strikes in the Niger Delta further tightened the noose on oil thieves and criminal cartels.
He disclosed that targeted operations led to the destruction of hundreds of illegal refining reservoirs, 126 storage tanks and several boats, crippling the ability of criminal syndicates to finance violence and organised crime, while contributing to improved oil production levels.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, attributed the gains to enhanced aircraft availability, improved intelligence gathering, acquisition of new platforms, inter-agency collaboration and increased government support.
He vowed that the service would maintain pressure on violent groups:
He said, “The Nigerian Air Force will remain relentless and decisive in taking the fight to all enemies of the Nigerian state. Those who persist in violence will face precise and overwhelming air power”, while urging those involved in terrorism and banditry to renounce violence.
Separately, the Defence Headquarters reported major battlefield successes by troops across all theatres of operation, including the elimination of several notorious terrorist commanders and their lieutenants.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Michael Onoja, listed a number of high-profile figures neutralised during the year and disclosed that troops also:
- arrested 4,375 suspects
- received 1,616 surrendered terrorists and family members
- rescued 2,336 kidnapped victims
He further highlighted significant results from Operation DELTA SAFE, noting that troops disrupted oil theft worth over N8.9 billion and recovered millions of litres of stolen crude and illegally refined petroleum products, while over 503 illegal refining sites were dismantled.
Onoja said the combination of kinetic and non-kinetic operations has degraded criminal financing, boosted security and supported social and economic activities nationwide.
He stressed that the broader strategy for 2025 links air interdictions, arrests, rescues, and mass surrenders as part of an integrated plan to protect civilians and stabilise affected communities across the country.
