The Defence Headquarters said on Thursday that some terrorist leaders, commanders and combatants operating in North Central Zone have indicated to surrender to troops.
In anticipation of this move the military as usual in war situation will allow them to surrender. “We are opening a surrendering corridor for that purpose,” the Director, Defence Media Operations Major General Edward Buba disclosed on Thursday.
Buba stated this during the biweekly press briefing on the activities of the military against insurgents. He said that a total of 481 terrorists were neutralized in October 2024 while 741 others arrested and 492 kidnapped hostages victims rescued.
Troops recovered 480 weapons and 9,026 assorted ammunitions. Whilst they denied the oil theft of an estimated sum of close to N4 bn (N3,896,400.960.00) only
He said troops did a tremendous job and significantly dismantled terror groups across the country, in various theatres of operations. He also said that military strategy remains to undermine the ability of these terror groups and their cohorts.
Major General Buba said that the insurgents would be mistaken at this time our mourning “the tragic passing away of the COAS, Lt Gen TA Lagbaja. We will not allow his passing to derail our focus to destroy the terrorists.”
In fact, “we are rather inspired by his actions on the battlefield as a war commander as well as his strong desire to defeat the terrorist in order to end the war.”
Troops would continue to conduct simultaneous strikes on several terrorist enclaves and hideouts across the country he assured adding that Airforce bombardments and air interdiction on these terrorist hideouts and enclaves are with precision hitting the fighting capabilities of terrorist. .
“Truly, the terrorist knows that they cannot match our military strength. The options open to them is to surrender or be killed in the battlefield. “Accordingly, some terrorist leaders, commanders and combatants have indicated to surrender. We are opening a surrendering corridor for that purpose.”
Giving a breakdown of arms recovery for the month of October, the director said they includes and not limited to the following: 263 AK47 rifles, 81 locally fabricated guns, 91 dane guns, 76 pump action guns, 5,683 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,944 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 642 cartridges, 160 assorted arms and 1,526 assorted ammunitions. Others are 3,226,645 litres of stolen crude oil, 763,860 litres of illegally refined AGO and 12,690 litres of PMS amongst other item.