Troops Kill 113 Terrorists, Arrest 300, Rescue 91 Hostages — DHQ

Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Thursday said troops neutralised 113 terrorists, arrested 300 terrorists, and rescued 91 Kidnap victims in one week.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba who disclosed this said troops arrested 25 suspected oil thieves, destroyed 49 illegal refining sites, and seized stolen products worth N571m only.

He said the troops recovered 129 assorted weapons and 717 assorted ammunition.

He restated that the armed forces will continue to exert military pressure on groups that seek to derail any progress toward peace and security in the country.

“There is no doubt that these groups must be defeated and are indeed being defeated.

“It is for these reason we are inflicting severe damage on the terrorist, insurgents, and violent extremists through our operations across the country. Accordingly, we are targeting their leadership, infrastructure, and foot soldiers.

“The coordination between the air and ground forces is like never seen before and yielding amazing results and achievements. We are expecting new platforms that would further enhance our capabilities to further root out the terrorist and destroy their military capabilities” he said.

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He gave a breakdown of recovered items to include; one unserviceable AA gun, one RPG tube, five RPG bombs, one GT3 rifle, 54 AK47 rifles, eight locally fabricated rifles, one locally made rifle, two pistols, two pump action guns, two dane guns, four locally fabricated pistol, three skeleton of AK47 rifles, nine hand grenades, one unserviceable AK47 rifle, 14 magazines, 321 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 40 live cartridges.

Others are 53 rounds of 5.45mm x 39mm ammo, 35 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 100 rounds of short gun, 11 rifle body, seven breech blocks, seven rifle butts, eight rifle muzzles, nine pistons assembles, 210 springs, one drilling machine, hand filling machines, 10 magazine purges, IED making materials, four boating radios, 15 motorcycles, 20 mobile phones and the sum of N348,200 amongst other items.

Meanwhile, troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 76 dugout pits, 35 boats, 95 storage tanks, 10 vehicles, 129 cooking ovens, five pumping machines, 13 speedboats, six outboard engines, one vessel, three motorcycles, and 49 illegal refining sites.

He added that troops recovered 514,640 litres of stolen crude oil, 339,315 litres of illegally refined AGO, and 775 litres of DPK.

He reiterated that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is a disciplined and well-trained force that conducts its operation within the ambit of laws governing human rights and that of armed conflict.

“We have rules of engagement that are followed in the course of our actions. Nevertheless, there are standing court martials to put on trial any erring personnel that is found wanting during operations.

“There is, therefore, the need for us to be circumspect of groups and organisations that embark on misinformation and disinformation to give the military a negative image. They have ulterior motives for their actions.

“For instance, the circulation of old footage of incidences that occurred in yesteryears that have been tried at a court-martial as though, they were recent occurrences is mischievous. The public should be weary of such groups and their motive.”