Troops Killed 156 Terrorists, Arrested 464, Rescued 181 In 1 Week —DHQ

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has disclosed that troops on internal operations across the country killed 156 terrorists, arrested 464 others and rescued 181 hostages in one week.

Outgoing Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba gave the figures on Thursday at a farewell briefing in Abuja.

He said troops within the period also arrested 29 suspected oil thieves and recovered stolen products worth N623,447,390.00 only.

General Buba added that troops recovered 219 assorted weapons and 2,871 assorted ammunition within the period under review.

He gave the breakdown of recovered weapons as one GPMG, 68 AK47 rifles, one AK56 rifle, 12 fabricated rifles, four FN rifles, four dane guns, seven pump action guns, one foreign double barrel gun, nine fabricated IEDs, 18 FN grenades, six RPG bombs, 27 magazines, four IEDs and making materials.

Other items recovered during the period include 1,618 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 676 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 16 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm ammo, 68 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 317 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 73 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, 175 rounds of PKT ammo, one box of 12.7mm ammo, 25 live cartridges, one baofeng radio, 10 vehicles, 42 motorcycles, 29 mobile phones, amongst other items.

Meanwhile, troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 46 illegal refining sites, 48 crude oil cooking ovens, 10 dugout pits, and 56 storage tanks.

Furthermore, troops also recovered 705,294 litres of stolen crude oil, 6,865 litres of illegally refined AGO, 1,500 litres of DPK and 800 litres of PMS.

Other items recovered in the area include 28 boats, eight pumping machines, six speedboats, three outboard engines, six drums, eight motorcycles, one mobile phone and eight vehicles, among others.

Buba said, “Overall, the military is profoundly conscious of its role and responsibility in ending insurgency and terrorism in the nation. Accordingly, troops are thwarting and eliminating forms of resurgent terror attacks in the North-West and North-East, caused by influx of foreign fighters from the Sahelian Region.

“Though troops might record occasional tactical setbacks which is common place in any threatre of war, our strategic objective of breaking the terrorists’ will to fight remains resolute and unhindered.”

He therefore, urged citizens to embrace security as everybody’s business and not only that of the military.

“Citizens must not compromise on security, otherwise everyone’s security is compromised,” he added.