NOSA EGHAGHA
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Armed Forces on Thursday reiterated it’s determination “to end terrorism and insecurity across the country.”
Defence Headquarters said troops have been strategically deployed to conduct operations across the country in order to create a safe environment for citizens to go about their lawful duties and activities.
Director of Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major General Edward Buba, who disclosed this in Abuja said the military is “carrying out attacks on the terrorist enclaves and strongholds, aimed at eliminating the leadership and foot soldiers of these terror groups.”
“Troops will continue to go after these terrorist and apply military pressure to destroy them and their cohorts across the country,” he added.
He said that within the week the armed forces conducted synchronised strikes between the ground and air forces on terrorist enclaves and hideouts after it acquired and established vital targets.
Fighter jets were scrambled to conduct major bombarding raids on significant terrorist enclaves.
Troops conducted ambushes, raids , fighting patrols and other forms of offensives against the terrorist. The combination of these offensive posture resulted in neutralization of over 40 terrorists and the arrests of 191 others .
He said that during the encounters troops recovered 72 assorted weapons and 338 assorted ammunition.
Troops also arrested 68 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 80 kidnapped hostages. In the South South, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Four Hundred and Eight Million One Hundred and Forty Seven Thousand Four Hundred and Sixty Naira (N408,147,460.00) only.
According to him,the breakdown of recovered weapons and ammunition are as follows: 20 AK47 rifles, 6 FN rifles, 8 pump action guns, 4 locally fabricated rifle, 19 dane guns, 2 x 36 hand grenades, 165 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 100 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,085 rounds 7.62mm x 56mm ammo, 5.56mm x 45mm ammo, 84 rounds 12.7mm ammo and 12 live cartridges.
Others are: one PKM barrel, one locally made bomb, 2 RPG charger, one bandolier, 34 magazines, 10 vehicles, 32 mobile phones, 18 motorcycles, 23 bicycles, 6 boafeng HH radios and the sum of N895,900.00 amongst other items.
Troops in the Niger Delta area destroyed 23 dugout pits, 30 boats, 99 storage tanks, 2 motorcycles and 13 vehicles. Other items recovered include 135 cooking ovens, one speedboat, 5 pump machines, 2 motorcycles and 68 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 406,500 litres of stolen crude oil, 252,112 litres of illegally refined AGO, 3,158 litres of DPK and 10,800 litres of PMS
The goal of ongoing operations is to destroy the terrorist and their cohorts across the country. And, our first priority is the protection of the citizens of this country.
Fielding questions on Kaduna State bombing error that resulted in killing of civilians, Major General Buba said that the Defence Headquarters had instituted a six man probe panel on the incident while the federal government has also set up a separate panel to probe it.
He said the military welcomes the probe panels as it would enable it establish what went wrong and to guide further operations.
