The defence headquarters (DHQ) says an Alpha Jet NAF 466 belonging to the Nigerian Air Force has disappeared in Adamawa.
This is contained in a statement signed by Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, director of defence information, in Abuja on Sunday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Olukolade said that the aircraft, with two pilots on board, left Yola at about 10.45a.m. on Friday, September 12 on a routine operational mission and was expected back at noon the same day.
According to him, all efforts to establish contact with the aircraft have not yielded any positive result.
Olukolde, however, said that a search and rescue effort was ongoing to establish contact with the crew.
Sources said the missing aircraft was among those deployed in the aerial bombardment of Boko Haram insurgents.
The military had on September 1 launched heavy 2015air bombardment on Bama, Borno State’s second most important city, after pulling off its ground troops as the town came under Boko Haram attack following fierce fighting.
Even after it announced it had regained Bama, the military had continued to shell locations believed to have large concentration of insurgents.
The aerial bombardment, sources said, has left the Boko Haram insurgents suffering extensive losses in men and equipment.
But as the military bombed their locations from above, the terrorists also began to plot against the aircraft carrying out the operation.
The military on Saturday said some of the equipment recovered from the terrorists during an operation in Konduga were three Hilux and one Buffalo vehicles with mounted anti-aircraft guns, according to an online newswire.
Sources say it is not clear whether the missing aircraft was shot down or simply had an accident.
