Nigerian military says on Thursday that
the ongoing multi front military operations are focussed on targeting the centre of gravity of terrorist and their cohorts across the country and they neutralized 106 terrorists and arrested 164 other persons this week.
The Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba disclosed this during the biweekly press briefing in Abuja said the military “are finding them, flushing them out and dismantling their military, administrative and logistics capabilities across the various theatres.”
“Troops are not resting on their oars in the ongoing counter insurgency operations across the country.”
According to him, troops are “exerting significant military pressure to defeat terrorist and their cohorts in the North East, North West and North Central Zones of the country,”
In the South East Zone, troops are sustaining the momentum against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and their armed Eastern Security Network (ESN) cohorts. While, in the South South Zone troops continue to battled perpetrators of crude oil theft.
” In battling the perpetrators of crude oil theft. We have established a unified command structure for security operating in the region,” he said .
“Additionally,” he posited , “we are examining other areas such as: transparency of IOCs, credible metering of oil wells and the tracking of point of loading to destination of the crude oil.”
The military is also galvanising the support of host communities as well as stakeholders in the oil sector. Troops are also reinforcing surveillance efforts on vessels, terminals and oil infrastructures to include jackets, that house well heads.
Most importantly, troops are monitoring to ensure that culprits are prosecuted by the prosecuting agencies. It is believe that with these measures emplaced, there would be a significant boost in crude oil output for the nation, he stated
Besides the number of terrorists neutralized, troops also arrested 32 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 103 kidnapped hostages.
In the South South, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Ninty Three Million Five Hundred and Thirty Six Thousand Naira (N793,536,000.00) only.
Troops recovered 125 assorted weapons and 1,522 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 41 AK47 rifles, one PKT gun, 24 locally fabricated gun, 28 dane guns, one pump action gun, 755 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 623 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 102 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 63 live cartridges, 247 empty case of 7.62mm ammo, 22 AK47 magazines, one baofeng radio, 22 vehicles, 31 motorcycles, 2 bicycles, 10 mobile phones and the sum of N2,956,000.00 only amongst other items.
The troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 20 dugout pits, 24 boats and 34 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 56 cooking ovens, 2 speedboats, 14 pumping machines, 18 drums, 22 vehicles, 4 motorcycles and 36 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 802,200 litres of stolen crude oil, 121,900 litres of illegally refined AGO and 450 litres of DPK.
Troops of Operation HADIN KAI recorded the following activities during the week under review; surrendering of BH/ISWAP/JAS terrorists fighters and families. They staged night ambush and raid operations and arrested suspected BH/ISWAP terrorists .
They conducted fighting patrol in Bama, Dikwa, Gwoza, Gamboru-Ngala and Nganzai LGAs of Borno State as well as Geidam LGAs of Yobe State.
Such that on 15 and 16 July 2024, a total of 961 BH/ISWAP terrorists fighters and family members comprising of 110 male adults, 298 adult females and 553 children surrendered to troops in Bama, Gwoza and Dikwa LGAs of Borno State.
On 22 and 23 July 2024, a total of 115 suspected BH/ISWAP/JAS terrorists and family members comprising of 7 adult males, 47 adult females and 75 children surrendered to troops in Bama, Kala Barge, Gwoza and Dikwa LGAs of Borno State.
Night Ambush Operation was conducted on 23 July 2024. Troops with hybrid forces conducted the night ambush operations and made contact with suspected BH/ISWAP terrorists in Gamboru – Ngala LGA of Borno State.
Following a fire fight, troops neutralized 13 terrorists and recovered 7 AK47 rifles, 5 fabricated rifles, one PKT gun, 143 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 94 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 4 magazines, 4 motorcycles and one mobile phone amongst others.
They followed up with separate raid Operations on 22 July 2024, on suspected terrorists hideouts in Girei and Song LGAs of Adamawa State. During the operations, troops arrested 6 suspected terrorists.