The Armed Forces of Nigeria has vowed to maintain the intensity of the ongoing fight against terrorists in North West Zone of the country until terrorists’ leader Bello Turji is killed or capture.
Troops across the country intensified their operations since last week and have thrown Turji camps into disarray as they killed of his key ten Commanders including his second in command.
The Chief of Defence Staff General. Christopher Musa reiterated the military commitment on Friday just as one of kidnap kingpin on the wanted list, identified as Babangida Gora Usman was arrested in Sanga LGA of Kaduna State.
Emphasising the depth of their seriousness on Friday in statement, Major General Edward Buba, the Director of Defence Media Operations says that the ongoing intense counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations is across the nation. “The operations are particularly targeted not just the terrorist but their network of collaborators, informants and support base.”
He said the operations in North Central Operational Theatre led to the killing of a notorious terrorist commander, and gun runner identified as Abu Mosaje in Barkin Ladi LGA of Plateau State.
Troops also apprehended 7 IPOB/ESN terrorists among them a notorious kidnapper and informants in Enugu North and Ehime Mbano LGAs of Enugu and Imo States.
Major General Buba further disclosed that during the week under review, troops neutralised 79 terrorists , arrested 224 others , 28 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 67 kidnapped hostages.
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In the South South where the fight is against economy saboteurs, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Forty Seven Million Seventy Thousand Seven Hundred and Ten Naira (N747,070,710.00) only.
Troops discovered and destroyed 215 crude oil cooking ovens, 26 dugout pits, 29 boats, 62 storage tanks, 20 drums and 42 illegal refining sites.
Other items recovered include one barge, one tug boat, 2 pumping machines, 2 speedboats, 9 outboard engines, 2 vehicles, 21 motorcycles, 11 mobile phones and 8 vehicles among others. Troops recovered 842,685 litres of stolen crude oil, 12,340 litres of illegally refined AGO and 200 litres of DPK.
A total of 104 assorted weapons and 1,953 assorted ammunition were recovered by troops from the theatres of operations.
The breakdown as follows: 53 AK47 rifles, 25 fabricated rifles, one FN rifle, 11 dane guns, 2 pump action guns, one fabricated SMG, 4 IEDs, 7 RPG bombs, 30 magazines, 4 IEDs and 3 locally made butts.
Others are: 1,186 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 417 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 49 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, 190 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 12 live cartridges, 3 bandoliers, one baofeng, 35 motorcycles, 22 mobile phones amongst other items.
Overall, troops remain steadfast in destruction of terrorists across the country. Even as the armed forces remains committed to creating conditions in which the safety and security of citizens is guaranteed, he added.