The Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba has explained the circumstances in which troops’ MRAP fell into the hand of terrorist in Zamfara State, saying that the MRAP which went viral is being used as a propaganda.
He said that, “on 29 Aug 24, at about 1700hrs, troops of OP HADARIN DAJI deployed at FOB Zurmi in Zurmi LGA of Zamfara State, embarked on fighting patrol to dislodge terror gathering at Kwashabawa Village and engaged the terrorists enroute the location.
“During the fight, while attempting to outflank the terrorist. Quantity 2 of troops MRAPs got bogged down due to the swampy terrain occasioned by heavy rain. While, troops tried to extricate the MRAPs, the terrorist mass up knowing the challenge troops had encountered with the MRAPs.
“Subsequently, troops dismounted and demobilised the MRAPs, when efforts to backload them were futile. The sad demobilisation of the MRAPs by troops was to prevent it from being used by the terrorist after abandonment. These situations further illustrate the effect of weather in changing conditions for ground operations.”
The Director said “the attention of DHQ has also been drawn to a trending video propagated from the terrorist camp depicting the killing of several civilians in a mass grave. It must be noted that, the incident never took place in Nigeria. Rather, it sadly took place in a nearby African country faced with terrorism.”
“The terrorist in an act of desperation, tried to manipulate the situation to mislead gullible members of the public. The armed forces unequivocally states that, at no time were 150 persons abducted in Gobir (Sokoto State). The rumoured abduction was deliberately planted by the terrorist to undermine troops winning efforts and cover up terrorist weakness, he said.
“On the whole, the public is urged to be circumspect of the antics of the terrorist to propagate misinformation, disinformation and fake news as part of their war propaganda effort. These situations are not uncommon in war.”
“The dynamic and ever changing environment of war creates some of these experiences. Nevertheless,
troops retain operational flexibility to make adjustments in achieving the strategic objective of winning the war,” he added.