By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
Troops of the Nigerian military have neutralised 192 terrorists, even as 122 ISWAP combatants surrendered to troops, alongside their families.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen Edward Buba, made this known on Thursday, at the Defence Headquarters during the biweekly press briefing on ongoing military operations across the country as at 18th April, 2024.
Buba further stated that troops arrested 341 persons including violent extremists and terrorist collaborators and suppliers, while also rescuing 62 kidnapped hostages.
In the SS, troops arrested 37 oil thrives and in the process denied oil theft of the estimated sum of Eight Hundred and Twenty One Million Two Hundred and Forty Eight Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty Naira (N821,248,740.00) only.
Furthermore, troops recovered 211 assorted weapons and 6,288 assorted ammunition, the breakdown of which Buba gave as follows: 128 AK47 rifles, 26 dane guns among other items. Others are: 1,301 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 3,260 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,325 live cartridges, 140 round of 9mm ammo among other items.
Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 99 dugout pits, 36 storage tanks and 192 cooking ovens. During the process the troops recovered 349,970 litres of stolen crude oil, 112,135 litres of illegally refined AGO, 7,560 litres of DPK and 13,000 litres of PMS.
The above arrests and recoveries are the result of the various operations of the military which include fighting patrols, cordon and search operations, raid operations, clearance operations and air interdictions by Operation Hadin Kai in the Northeast, Operation Safe Haven and Operation Whirl Stroke in the North Central, Operation Hadarin Daji and Operation Whirl Punch in the North West, Operation Delta Safe in the South South, and Operation Udo Ka in the Southeast.
According to Buba, the military recognises that there is a challenging and tough war campaign still ahead . “Overall, our objective is to defeat the terrorists and their cohorts by denying them the ability to continue to fight.”
He emphasised that, “winning the war without the support of the people is close to impossible”, and therefore urged the civil populace and civil societies to galvanise support in a whole of society approach to facilitate the total defeat of these terrorists.
“The time is now for citizens to know that they have a responsibility to the nation”, he said.
