Nigerian Air Force Debunks Video By Boko Haram Claiming Terrorists Shot Down Its Fighter Jet

Jihadist terrorist organisation Boko Haram had released a video wherein a plane appeared to have exploded midair. It also showed the remains of a man who was claimed to be the pilot of the fighter jet.

Representative Photo: Getty Images

New Delhi: Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has refuted the claims of jihadist group Boko Haram that had released a video on Friday saying it shot down the air force fighter jet.

Nigerian authorities had earlier stated that an air force fighter jet recently lost contact in Borno state while on a mission to support ground troops.

Jihadist terrorist organisation Boko Haram had released a video wherein a plane appeared to have exploded midair. It also showed the remains of a man who was claimed to be the pilot of the plane as said by a Boko Haram member.

Nigerian Air Force released a statement on Facebook where it debunked the claims of the video.

NAF addressed the matter of several videos being shared about the plane while writing: "One of such videos, in particular, began with sporadic shooting by several terrorists, including underaged children on motorcycles and vehicles. It later skipped abruptly to a scene depicting an aircraft exploding mid-air, supposedly as a result of enemy action. Another part of the video showed a terrorist, who, while standing by the wreckage, claimed that they had shot down the NAF aircraft".

"Although the video is still being thoroughly analysed, it is evident that most parts of the video were deliberately doctored to give a false impression that the aircraft was shot down. For instance, the video clip failed to show the correlation between the sporadic shooting, which even from casual observation was obviously aimed at ground targets, and the sudden mid-air aircraft explosion," the statement read.

"In addition, it is almost impossible for an aircraft to have exploded mid-air, in the manner depicted in the video, and still have a good part of its fuselage, including its tail, intact. Indeed, an explosive impact of that nature would have scattered the debris of the aircraft across several miles," it added.

NAF further stated that Boko Haram Sect, in a characteristic manner of employing false propaganda, was trying to claim credit for an "obviously air accident" that could have been caused by several other reasons.

Nigerians have been advised to ignore the contents of the videos circulating until all investigations over how the aircraft crashed are completed.