The Nigerian Defence Headquarters has announced that soldiers killed another 169 terrorists in the last one week with more than 70 of then eliminated in one day.
These were contained in a press statement by the Director of Defence Media Operations (DDMO), Major General Edward Buba on Saturday.
General Buba said: “Troops intensify offensive against terrorist and insurgents across the country. Synchronized air strikes by the air force as well as ground operations by ground forces has dislodged terrorist from their enclaves killing several of them.
“For instance, on 6 Nov 24, the air component of Operation HADIN KAI, conducted targeted air strikes on terrorists located at KWALLARAM and ARAINNA CIKI islands in Borno State.
“The strikes resulted in the neutralisation of over 70 extremist members at KWALLARAM, with several more killed at ARAINNA CIKI.
“Meanwhile during the week under review, troops neutralised 169 and arrested 641 persons. Troops also arrested 40 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 181 kidnapped hostages.
“In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Billion Four Hundred and Two Million Nine Hundred and One Thousand Nine Hundred Naira (N1,402,001,900.00) only”, the spokesman said.
The DDMO went further to give accounts of other successes recorded by the armed forces in the fight against terrorists.
According to him, “troops recovered 192 assorted weapons and 2,970 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 106 AK47 rifles, 38 fabricated rifles, 26 dane guns, one FN rifle, 3 fabricated revolver pistol, 11 locally made pistols, 5 pump action guns, ome dummy AK47 rifle, one unexploded RPG bomb, 2
“Others are: 1,410 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,074 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 67 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 130 rounds of 108mm, 101 rounds of 9mm ammo, 146 live cartridges, 2 baofeng radios, 7 vehicles, 29 motorcycles, 40 mobile phones and the sum of N729,000.00 only amongst other items.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 20 crude oil cooking ovens, 2 dugout pits, 42 boats, 7 reservoirs, 5 drums, 50 storage tanks and 83 illegal refining sites.
“Other items recovered include 3 pumping machines, 3 outboard engines, one generator set, one speedboat, 8 motorcycles, 3 mobile phones and 3 vehicles among others. Troops recovered 914,445 litres of stolen crude oil, 537,325 litres of illegally refined AGO and 1,285 litres of PMS.
“On the whole, troops operations has severely depleted the ranks and files. Consequently the terrorist are forced into a desperate recruitment drive on social media, particularly the ISWAP terrorist group.
“Troops will sustain the offensives to eliminate all threats”, Buba assured.
