The military says on Thursday that troops are actively fighting in various theatres of Operation across the country and are focussed on destroying both the terrorists capability and their cohorts across the country.
Director of Defence Media Operations Major General Edward Buba stated this in Abuja on Thursday during a press briefing on the activities of troops. He said though we loss four soldiers in an ambush and three others injured our troops morale is high with stamina.
He said troops are hunting senior terrorist leadership that are of operational importance in terms of coordination of the terrorist attacks against troops and citizens.
Besides ,he said that during the week under review May 2 to May 16 , troops neutralised 227 terrorists and arrested 529 persons. Troops also arrested 11 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 253 kidnapped hostages.
Furthermore, troops recovered 231 assorted weapons and 6,441 assorted ammunition during the week with the breakdown as follows: 89 AK47 rifles, 40 locally fabricated gun, 59 dane guns, 2 pump action guns, 8 locally fabricated pistols, 6 x 36 hand grenade, 3 IED, one RPG 7 tubes, one RPG 7 charger, 4 AGL rounds, one barrel of QJC Gun, one barrel of PKT with receiver, one barrel of Dushka Gun, 250kg bombs used by NATO and Eastern Bloc aircraft and one MRAP.
Others are: 4,198 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 841 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 88 rounds of 5.56mm, 16 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm, 99 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm, 956 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 242 live cartridges, one PKM magazine, 24 magazines, 6 baofeng radios, 8 vehicles, 69 motorcycles, 66 mobile phones, 12 cutlasses and the sum of N1,630,000.00 only amongst other items.
In the South South where troops are fighting economic saboteurs, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Billion Three Hundred and Twelve Million Four Hundred and Seventy Seven Thousand Fifty Naira (N1,312,477,050.00) only.
Troops discovered and destroyed 18 dugout pits, 34 boats, 5 drums, 4 receiver, 4 reservoirs and 97 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 198 cooking ovens, 9 vehicles, 3 pumping machines, 2 speedboats, one outboard engine and 57 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 1,442,700 litres of stolen crude oil and 154,650 litres of illegally refined AGO.
Troops are fighting admirably in a very challenging complex combat environment and have made significant progress. However, there is still a lot of work ahead as there are still many more terrorist to kill, weapons to be recovered and many terrorist commanders and leaders to take off the battlefield.
Troops of Operation HADARIN DAJI encountered 2 separate ambushes namely at Kuran Mota Village as well as along Road Alikere – Yarmalimai Village in Zamfara State. Though troops fought fiercely to extricate themselves from the situation. Sadly, troops recorded casualties of 4 soldiers killed in action, while 3 were wounded in action in the first ambush. In the second ambush incident 5 soldiers sustained minor injuries of gunshot wounds and the soldiers have been stabilized as they were evacuated to FOB Faskari for medication care.
During the ambush, troops received support from the air component OP HADARIN DAJI as well as reinforcement from FOB YARMALIMAI. The joint effort of both forces death severe blow to the coalition of terrorist that gathered in numerical strength to execute both ambushes. Accordingly, several of the terrorist were neutralised as they suffered heavy casualties. However, troops unlock the change in tactics of these terrorist and made necessary adjustments to maintain tactical superiority in the battlefield.
He explained that Air Interdiction was conducted following intelligence trail and confirmatory ISR on migration of notorious terrorists elements to a deserted settlement as new enclave in Faskari LGA of Katsina State. On 8 May 2024, air component of Operation HADARIN DAJI conducted air interdiction mission at the location. Consequently, the target was acquired and attacked with rockets and bombs and several terrorists were neutralized and their structures as well as logistics destroyed.
Major General Buba said that fight against terrorism is an intelligent lead operations which every Nigerians ought to wholeheartedly support but unfortunately some communities are romancing with terrorists .
The military can’t be every where and what this translates to is that citizens must give information in good time of what they notice in their environs for the troops act upon.
He urged Nigerians to provide useful information to the military on terrorist hideouts and their activities, whether the troops will take them off.
Giving summary of Theatre activities, Maj Gen. Buba said on the overall, troops of Operation HADIN KAI neutralized 83 terrorists, arrested 59 suspects and rescued 58 kidnappers hostages. Troops recovered one GPMG, 62 AK47 rifles, 24 fabricated rifles, 35 dane guns, 3 locally made pistols, 6 x 36 hand grenade, 2,120 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo,
The troops also recovered 696 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 88 rounds 5.56mm ammo, 956 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 99 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm, 129 live cartridges, one RPG 7 tubes, one RPG 7 charger, 4 AGL rounds, one barrel of QJC Gun, one barrel of PKT with receiver, one barrel of Dushka Gun, 250kg bombs used by NATO, one PKM magazine and 4 magazines amongst others.
Troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN in North Central neutralized 10 insurgents, arrested 31 violent extremists and rescued 24 kidnapped hostages. Troops recovered one fabricated rifle, 2 dane guns, 23 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, one motorcycle and 3 mobile phones amongst others.
Also operating in the North Central troops of Operation WHIRL STROKE neutralized 17 terrorists, arrested 123 violent extremists and rescued 18 kidnapped hostages. Troops recovered 2 AK47 rifles, 7 dane guns, one locally made pistol, 1,546 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 17 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm, 26 live cartridges, 31 motorcycles, 16 mobile phones and the sum of N1,630,000.00 only, amongst others.
Troops of Operation HADARIN DAJI in North West neutralized 58 terrorists, arrested 125 terrorists and rescued 105 kidnapped hostages, Troops recovered 29 AK47 rifles, 15 fabricated rifles, 12 dane guns, 2 locally fabricated pistols, 344 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 122 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 45 live cartridges, 4 magazines, 30 motorcycles, 37 mobile phones and 12 cutlasses amongst others.
Also in the North West , troops of Operation WHIRL PUNCH neutralized 25 terrorists, arrested 97 suspects and rescued 32 kidnapped hostages. Troops recovered 6 AK47 rifles, 2 pump action rifles, one IED, 188 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 23 live cartridges, 5 magazines and 2 baofeng radios amongst others.
Troops of Operation DELTA SAFE in the South South recovered 1,442,700 litres of stolen crude oil and 154,650 litres of illegally refined AGO. Additionally, Troops discovered and destroyed 18 dugout pits, 34 boats, 5 drums, 4 receiver, 4 reservoirs and 97 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 198 cooking ovens, 9 vehicles, 3 pumping machines, 2 speedboats, one baofeng radio, one outboard engine and 57 illegal refining sites.
Troops neutralized 3 extremists and apprehended 16 suspected oil thefts and other violent extremists. Troops recovered 2 magazines, 2 weapons and 79 assorted ammunitions.
While troops of Operation UDO KA neutralized 21 terrorists, arrested 45 violent extremists and rescued 12 kidnapped hostages. Troops recovered one locally made pistol, 2 IEDs, 22 live cartridges and 3 mobile phones amongst other. All recovered items, arrested suspects and rescued hostages were handed over to the relevant authority for further action.