Troops Arrest 122 Terrorists, Rescue 189 Hostages In One Week — DHQ

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Friday said troops on internal operations killed 50 terrorists, arrested 122 and rescued 182 kidnap hostages in one week.

The Director, Defence Information, Major General Edward Buba in a statement said the troops arrested 49 suspected oil thieves and recovered stolen products worth N128 million.

General Buba said the Nigerian military has continued to target the leadership and chain of command of the terrorist, insurgents and extremist undermining the security of citizens in the country.

He said the ongoing counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations is making the country safer each passing day as the “evil forces are decimated”.

“The armed forces is on course with it’s operations, which are yielding encouraging results” he said.

He said the troops also recovered 66 assorted weapons and 11,474 assorted ammunition.

He gave a breakdown of recovered weapons to include; one conqueror APC, one GPMG, one NSVT gun, one GT3 rifle, 25 AK47 rifles, four pump action gun, two locally made AK47 rifles, three locally made gun, one locally made revolver gun, four locally fabricated pistols and four long dane gun, two locally made hand grenades, one bandolier.

Others include; 574 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 640 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 150 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, five rounds of 9mm ammo, 10,520 live cartridges, five vehicles, 27 mobile phones, 12 motorcycle, three boafeng radios, one Motorolla HHR, three bicycles, one solar panel, one solar charger controller, one radio receiver and the sum of N75.9 million amongst other items.

Meanwhile, in the Niger Delta, troops destroyed 242 dugout pits, 49 boats, 78 storage tanks, one tricycle, 21 vehicles, 104 cooking ovens, three pumping machine, 7 outboard engine and 49 illegal refining sites.

Troops also recovered 151,850 litres of stolen crude oil, 48,630 litres of illegally refined AGO and 10,125 litres of DPK.

He restated that the armed forces will continue to apply strong military pressure such as has been witnessed in the week.

“The terrorist and their cohorts would continue to suffer heavy casualties.

“It is in their interest to surrender as being done in the North East of the country to avoid eventual destruction”, he urged.