No fewer than 481 terrorists were eliminated, 741 others arrested, while the Nigerian troops also rescued 492 hostages in the month of October, the Defence Headquarters said on Thursday.
Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba also disclosed that troops recovered 480 weapons and 9,026 assorted ammunitions.
He gave a breakdown of recovered weapons to include 263 AK47 rifles, 81 locally fabricated guns, 91 dane guns, 76 pump action guns, 5,683 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,944 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 642 cartridges, 160 assorted arms and 1,526 assorted ammunition.
Maj.-Gen. Buba maintained that the terrorists cannot match military might and charged them to lay down their arms and surrender to the troops or be prepared to face the wrath of the military.
“Truly, the terrorist knows that they cannot match our military strength. The options open to them is to surrender or be killed in the battlefield. Accordingly, some terrorist leaders, commanders and combatants have indicated to surrender. We are opening a surrendering corridor for that purpose,” Buba said.
In another operations, Buba said troops recovered stolen products worth N3,896,400.960.00 only.
These include 3,226,645 litres of stolen crude oil, 763,860 litres of illegally refined AGO and 12,690 litres of PMS amongst other items.
The military spokesman assured that while the armed forces mourn the tragic passing away of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, “We will not allow his passing to derail our focus to destroy the terrorists”.
He stressed that the armed forces are not demoralized, but rather inspired by General Lagbaja’s actions on the battlefield as a war commander as well as his strong desire to defeat the terrorists to end the war.
General Buba reiterated that the military will continue to work decisively to kill the terrorists, stop insecurity in the nation and ensure the safety of citizens.
He added that the armed forces remain in a good and strong position to win the war against terrorism.
