Troops Kill 36 Terrorists, Arrests 163, Rescue 140 Hostages In 2 Weeks

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said troops deployed for internal operations across the country killed 36 terrorists, arrested 163 criminals, and rescued 140 civilian hostages in the last two weeks.

This is just as 313 terrorists comprising 12 male adults, 138 female adults and 162 of their children surrendered to troops at different locations within the theatre of operation.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, made the disclosures on Thursday at the biweekly update on Armed Forces of Nigeria operations in the last two weeks.

He reiterated that the military has no greater priority than to restore normalcy and put an end to security challenges across the country.

General Buba said the men and women of the Armed Forces have answered a call to duty to fight the perpetrators of these evil to submission, adding that, “We are in a good fight, and must flush them out from amongst us.”

He said during the weeks under review, the military killed 36 terrorists, arrested 137 gunmen, three gunrunners, two kidnappers, six collaborators, 15 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 140 kidnapped hostages.

The troops also recovered 37 weapons , 370 ammunition and recovered the sum of N3,177,650.00 cash.

In a breakdown, he said the troops recovered 16 AK47 rifles, six pump action guns, six dane guns, three fabricated rifles, two locally-made pistols, 199 rounds of 7.62mm special, six rounds of 7.62mm NATO, nine AK47 magazines, two G3 magazines, eight vehicles, 45 motorcycles, 32 mobile phones, 925 machetes and 151 machete sharpeners.

Troops also recovered 61 dugout pits, 32 wooden boats, 87 storage tanks, one speedboat, 32 cooking ovens, three outboard engine, one generator, two pumping machines, 36 illegal refining sites, 310,700 litres of stolen crude oil, 14,675 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 49,000 Dual Purpose Kerosine and five litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) commonly known as petrol.