Troops Kill 118 Terrorists, Rescue 96 Hostages

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said troops on internal operations across the country have killed 118 terrorists, arrested 97 others while 96 hostages were rescued in one week.

Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba in a statement on Friday, said troops also arrested 18 suspected oil thieves and recovered stolen products worth N793,257,250.00.

He said troops within the period recovered 87 assorted weapons and 2,244 assorted ammunition.

Buba gave the breakdown of recovered weapons as one PKT gun, one PKM, one RPG, one auto pistol, 43 AK-47 rifles, 14 fabricated rifles, 14 dane guns, 5 pump action guns, six AK-47 magazines and three boefeng radios.

Other items include 1,715 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 505 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, eight rounds of 9mm ammo, 14 live cartridges, 89 empty cases of 7.62mm ammo, 10 vehicles, 33 motorcycles, 50 mobile phones and the sum of N778,560.00, amongst other items.

Meanwhile, troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 44 illegal refining sites, 4 dugout pits, 48 boats, 4 speedboats, 156 drums and 34 storage tanks.

Other items recovered include 28 cooking ovens, 8 vehicles, 1 motorcycles, 1 tricycle, 602,200 litres of stolen crude oil, 64,900 litres of illegally refined AGO and 12,690 litres of PMS.

Buba assured that troops are in a good stead in winning the war against terrorists, adding that the armed forces would continue to innovate and develop new strategies to defend the country and protect citizens from the perpetrators of insecurity.