Bandits claim responsibility for Air Force helicopter crash, brandish AK-47 rifles in video
Story from Hamzat Ibrahim ABAGA
An armed group allegedly loyal to Abubakar Abdallah, alias Dogo Gide, has claimed to be responsible for downing a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft, code-named ‘NAF 582’, in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria.
According to a WikkiTimes report, Gide’s bandit group claims responsibility for the crashed NAF aircraft in state in a two-minute, seventeen-second video.
The terrorists showed the bombed bodies of Nigerian soldiers alongside the wreckage of the helicopter.
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The aircraft was earlier said was on a mission to evacuate deceased soldiers killed in a forest gun battle when the terrorists shot it down.
The video further shows the terrorists claiming the helicopter was targeting their leader, Gide, who, according to them, is alive and not dead as the soldiers thought.
NAF spokesman Edward Gabkwet, earlier confirmed that the MI-171 helicopter had crashed and said the force is currently working to rescue the crew and passengers on board.
