Troops Elminate 1,116 Terrorists, Rescue 721 Kidnap Victims In August
By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
The Defence Headquarters says its operatives have eliminated 1,116 terrorists, arrested 1,096 suspected terrorists and rescued 721 kidnapped victims.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen Edward Buba made this known on Thursday, while briefing journalists on the achievement of various theatres of operation across the country in the month of August.
In addition to this, Buba said, troops also recovered 391 weapons and 15,243 ammunitions, while the fight against crude oil theft has resulted in the denial to oil thieves an estimated sum of over 5 billion naira.
Giving details of troops’ exploits in the various theatres, Buba said troops of Operation HADIN KAI in the Northeast invaded terrorist enclaves in Tumbun Jedda, Araina Soro Jibilarram camps around the Lake Chad Region and several other areas known to be strongholds of terrorist leaders and Commanders.
Troops are said to have eliminated 7 high profile terrorist commanders and over 40 terrorists combatants in one of their encounters.
Overall, they neutralized 292 terrorists, arrested 254 suspects and rescued 213 kidnapped hostages. Additionally, troops recorded 2,742 surrendered BH/ISWAP terrorist combatants and their families.
Troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN in the North-central conducted offensive operations to dominate the theatre of Operation during the month of August 2024, conducting several operations to violent extremist hideouts, strongholds and enclaves, which resulted in significant arrests and recoveries.
For instance; 3 high profile gunrunners namely Armaya’u Abdulkarim (aka Mallam), Danladi Kefas and Williams Haruna were arrested in Plateau State, and another notorious violent extremist/gunrunner named Mallam Hashimu Ahmad, in Lere LGA of Kaduna State.
Additionally, troops arrested a notorious kidnapper identified as Sebastian Caleb in Bokkos LGA of Plateau State, and also intercepted and arrested 7 illegal miners in Jos North LGA of Plateau State.
Also in the North Central, Troops of Operation WHIRL STROKE conducted several operations during the month, ranging from search and rescue, raids, fighting patrols as well as cordon and search among others.
These operations spanned Benue, Taraba, and Nasarawa States aimed at defeating terrorist and creating conditions whereby the terrorist is denied the ability to carry out terror or harm citizens.
Their operations resulted in several arrest and recoveries. For instance, troops arrested some notorious gun runners namely James Nuhu and Dan’asabe Anogo, both arrested in Wukari Metropolis of Taraba State.
Additionally, troops arrested a terrorist commander and gun runner Isyaka Yusuf aka (Jammini), in Bantaji Market in Taraba State.
Troops also arrested a female gunrunner at ZUBA Bridge Motor park as well as arrested 2 other gun runners one each in Makurdi and the other at Karu LGAs of Benue and Nasarawa States respectively.
In the Southsouth, troops of Operation DELTA SAFE maintained the momentum against the activities of crude oil theft, as they continued to find and destroy illegal refining sites and arrest perpetrators.
It is worthy of note that troops’ operations spiked the nation’s daily crude oil production to over 1.5 million barrels per day.
“Nevertheless, troops are urging for more transparency by the IOCs, accurate metering, cooperation of stakeholders in the sector and well cooperation from the local communities. Troops are also monitoring the prosecution of culprits perpetrating crude oil theft”, Buba stated.
He disclosed further that during the month troops of Operation DELTA SAFE arrested 71 persons involved in crude oil theft. They also denied the oil theft of 5,047,150 litres of crude oil, 1,152,500 litres of AGO, 320 litres of DPK and 28,500 litres of PMS.
Furthermore, troops recovered 194 assorted ammunition and destroyed 125 wooden boats as well as 458 illegal refining sites.
Troops of Operation UDO KA in the Southeast conducted offensive operations against IPOB/ESN terror groups in several Southeastern states killing terrorist, making arrest and recoveries of weapons. Accordingly, IPOB /ESN incidents were recorded in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo and Enugu States.
Overall, troops of Operation UDO KA in the month of August 2024, neutralized 34 terrorists, arrested 82 suspects and rescued 26 kidnap hostages.
Additionally, they recovered 12 pump action guns 11 assorted arms, 45 rounds of 7.62mm NATO ammo, 193 live cartridges and 69 assorted ammunition.
In his remarks, Buba stated that ongoing operations across the country have significantly diminished the military capabilities of terror groups and denied the terrorists the ability to carry out major offensives, adding that, “the situation experienced mostly these days are low level skirmishes and attacks on soft targets”.
According to him, troops’ strategy is to undermine the abilities of these terror groups and create conditions whereby they cannot carry out acts of terror or harm citizens. Accordingly, the military has prioritised targeting the terrorist leaders, commanders, foot soldiers as well as their collaborators.
He disclosed also, that troops have significantly dismantled these terror groups in the NE, where they are a diminishing, though active threat, adding that troops are also intensifying operations in the Northwest, North-central, SouthEast and SouthSouth zones to defeat and dismantle the threats in these areas.
“The military is on high alert and we have increased our readiness to protect the country from further terrorist aggression. We urge citizens to understand that this war is not a quick fix, but a long and enduring military operation. It is certain that at the end, these terrorists will be destroyed and our nation will be safe and peaceful again”, Buba said.
