The Nigerian Armed Forces said on Thursday it has intensified its war efforts in the past two weeks to defeat insurgents in the North West, North East, North Central Zones and the separatists group in South East .
It also said it has beef up its operations in South South zone against crude oil theives adding that troops are strategically deployed across the country to combat the terrorist, insurgents and their cohorts.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba stated this when he spoke on military operations that have dragged for more than a decade . He said troops recognizes the urgency to ensure peace and security for all citizens across the country and are now working on new strategies to better protect the nation and citizens.
He maintained that the “the war effort of the military is designed and crafted to defeat and destroy these terrorists as well as dismantle their terror networks across the country.”
“Accordingly, the armed forces has intensified its war efforts, through mobilization of lethal forces and air strikes on terrorists. Troops also understand the importance of momentum and are therefore taking the fight to the terrorist,” he said.
“Our operations have destroyed a substantial part of the combat capacity of these terror groups and their leadership. He said for instances, one of the notorious terrorist commander in Jigawa State known as Mai Hijabi, was eliminated from the battlefield during the week. Troops are therefore increasingly making significant strides across all theatres of operations, he added.
Major General Buba revealed that during the week under review, troops neutralised 165 terrorists and arrested 238 persons. Troops also arrested 35 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 188 kidnapped hostages.
In the South South where the fight is against economic saboteurs, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of Six Hundred and Eighty Eight Million One Hundred and Twenty Five Thousand One Hundred and Fifty Naira (N688,125,150.00) only.
While the troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 2 dugout pits, 58 boats and 39 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 13 cooking ovens, 35 drums, one motorcycle, one tricycle, 4 speed boat, 13 vehicles and 65 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 789,200 litres of stolen crude oil and 64,950 litres of illegally refined AGO.
In all, troops recovered 153 assorted weapons and 2,182 assorted ammunition with the breakdown as follows: 81 AK47 rifles, 23 fabricated rifles, 27 dane guns, 13 pump action guns, 5 locally made pistols, 3 revolver pistols, 30 AK47 magazines and one bayonet.
Others are: 1,561 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 278 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 70 rounds of 50mm ammo, 72 rounds of 9mm ammo, 87 live cartridges, one baofeng radio, 19 vehicles, 21 motorcycles, 45 mobile phones and the sum of N64,100.00 only amongst other items.
The director pointed to challenges and the aim of the military adding that, indeed”our role in the ongoing war is clear and we are winning the war. The military is not oblivious of some security challenges faced by citizens in certain quaters and are reassessing operation in those areas to better secure and protect citizens.”
“The armed forces seizes this opportunity to cautions persons or groups, from making threats or inflammatory comments on untoward activities against troops presence or deployment as a result of ongoing operations. The outcome of such an act are better imagined than experienced.