The military said on Friday that it’s offensives this week resulted in the neutralization of 43 terrorists and arrest of 115 others. Troops also recovered 87 assorted weapons and 666 assorted ammunition.
Major General Edward Buba the Director Defence Media Operations (DMO) disclosed this in a statement in Abuja said troops also arrested 17 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 39 kidnapped hostages.
In the South South Zone , troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Hundred and Fifty Nine Million Six Hundred and Fifty Two Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Naira (N159,652,620.00) only, even most people thought Christmas and new year festive period would be relatively free.
Major General Buba said the armed forces remains focussed and is continuing its counter-insurgency campaign against terrorist and their cohorts operating across the country. Our operations have prevented these evil elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives.
Accordingly, troops are hunting terrorist in their hiding places and conducting targeted offensives against the them to destroy them. Combat teams have neutralised several of the terrorist leadership and their foot soldiers as well as degraded their military capabilities.
According to him, during the week in focus, troops conducted ambushes, raids ,fighting patrols and other forms of offensives against the terrorist.
The breakdown of weapons and other items recovered during the week were as follows: 11 AK47 rifles, one FN rifles, 2 pump action guns, 8 locally fabricated guns, 11 dane guns, 2 locally fabricated pistols, one macarrol pistol, one berretta pistol, one fabricated SMG, one locally made mortar with one empty bomb, 4 IEDs, 17 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 592 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 4 rounds of 7.5mm ammo, one round of 9mm ammo and 36 live cartridges.
Others are: 18 empty cases of 7.62mm special, 2 bandolier, 13 magazines, 6 vehicles, 21 mobile phones, 9 motorcycles, 15 bicycles, 2 tricycles, 5 boafeng HH radios and the sum of N1,601,370.00 amongst other items.
Troops in the Niger Delta area destroyed 20 dugout pits, 29 boats, 31 storage tanks, one tricycle and 3 vehicles. Other items recovered incl 24 cooking ovens, 3 pump machines, and 25 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 315,700 litres of stolen crude oil, 1,200 litres of illegally refined AGO and 3,158 litres of DPK.
He assured that we will defeat the terrorist on the battlefield and in their hiding places in order that our country can flourish again. “We have no choice but win this war for the betterment of our nation”, he stated.
He called on the public to continue to act responsibly and be forthcoming for the progress of our nation. Citizens are urged to see themselves as the outstretched arm of the military in this war and to create conditions that would hasten victory.