…..Troops are hunting down terrorists
The Defence Headquarters Abuja, has assured that troops are hunting down terrorists in their hiding places across the country.
This is contained in a statement by the Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba made available to newsmen on Friday in Abuja.
Maj-Gen. Buba assured that the armed forces remains focussed and is continuing its counter-insurgency campaign against terrorist and their cohorts operating across the country.
“Our operations have prevented these evil elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives.
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“Accordingly, troops are hunting terrorists in their hiding places and conducting targetted offensives against the them to destroy them. Combat teams have neutralised several of the terrorist leadership and their foot soldiers as well as degraded their military capabilities,” he said.
In specifics, Gen. Buba disclosed that during the week in focus, troops conducted ambushes, raids ,fighting patrols and other forms of offensives against the terrorist.
“These offensive actions resulted in 43 neutralized terrorist and 115 arrests. Troops recovered 87 assorted weapons and 666 assorted ammunition.
“Furthermore, troops arrested 17 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 39 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Hundred and Fifty Nine Million Six Hundred and Fifty Two Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Naira (N159,652,620.00) only.’
According to him, the breakdown of weapons and other items recovered are as follows: “11 AK47 rifles, one FN rifles, 2 pump action guns, 8 locally fabricated guns, 11 dane guns, 2 locally fabricated pistols, one macarrol pistol, one berretta pistol, one fabricated SMG, one locally made mortar with one empty bomb, 4 IEDs, 17 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 592 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 4 rounds of 7.5mm ammo, one round of 9mm ammo and 36 live cartridges.
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“Others are: 18 empty cases of 7.62mm special, 2 bandolier, 13 magazines, 6 vehicles, 21 mobile phones, 9 motorcycles, 15 bicycles, 2 tricycles, 5 boafeng HH radios and the sum of N1,601,370.00 amongst other items.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area destroyed 20 dugout pits, 29 boats, 31 storage tanks, one tricycle and 3 vehicles. Other items recovered incl 24 cooking ovens, 3 pump machines, and 25 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 315,700 litres of stolen crude oil, 1,200 litres of illegally refined AGO and 3,158 litres of DPK.”
He assured the military will win the fight against terrorism and other criminalities bedeviling the country.
He said,”We assure that we will defeat the terrorist on the battlefield and in their hiding places in order that our country can flourish again. We have no choice but win this war for the betterment of our nation.
“We call on the public to continue to act responsibly and be forthcoming for the progress of our nation. Citizens are urged to see themselves as the outstretched arm of the military in this war and to create conditions that would hasten victory.”
