Troops Killed 6,886 Terrorists, Arrested 6,970, Rescued 4,488 Hostages In 2023 — DHQ

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said that Nigerian troops killed 6,886 terrorists and other criminal elements, arrested 6,970 suspects and rescued 4,488 kidnapped hostages between January to December 2023.

The Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, stated this on Thursday while giving a scorecard of troops’ operations across the country between January to December 2023.

He also said the troops recovered 3,320 assorted weapons and 39,075 assorted ammunition.

Speaking on the fight against crude oil theft, he said troops recovered 100,316,600 litres of crude oil, 60,339,426 litres of AGO, 3,465,450 litres of DPK and 3,544,990 litres of PMS.

General Buba, however, said the security situation in the outgoing year 2023 remained fluid, complex and dynamic with the threat morphing in form and scale.

“This unpredictable nature of the threat and the attendant demands for stability have continued to pose significant challenges for security forces. Consequently, various forces have continued to evolve Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP) to professionally respond to these threats,” he said.

The DHQ spokesman said the Armed Forces has been developing the desired enablers to overcome the country’s numerous threats, adding that the application of kinetic and non-kinetic efforts in collaboration with other Services and security agencies has continued to shape the operating environment in which the Armed Forces “are in a dominant position.”

He said attention was given to providing relevant resources to enhance troops’ capacity to defeat the threats.

“The cumulative outcome of these efforts is reflected in increased stability achieved across the various theatres of operations. Troops are in a dominant position and are winning the war,” he said.

On the recent attacks in Plateau State, he said the carnage that resulted in the attacks will never repeat itself in the State or anywhere else in the country again.

He said the conduct of kinetic and non-kinetic operations in the second half of the year significantly curtailed attacks between farmers and herders in Plateau State.

However, the situation turned gloomy with the attack on Bokkos LGA and some parts of Barkin Ladi LGA on December 23, 2023.

He explained that Bokkos and Barkin Ladi LGAs of Plateau State span about 2,315 square kilometres with over 350 villages, mostly dispersed.

General Buba said the distance between some of the villages and troops’ locations is over 90 kilometres and sometimes difficult to access because of the rugged terrain, which are mostly inaccessible to vehicles.

“Thus, affecting the reaction time to incidents, except when there is credible intelligence before the attack,” he explained.

He, however, assured that, “attacks on Plateau will never repeat itself again. We have put modalities in place to ensure that Whatever that limited us the last time that did not allow us to get to some of these locations on time has been eliminated. We are aware of the letters and we are doing something. We seriously going after those who perpetrated the crime.”