The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has disclosed that troops on internal operations in the first quarter of 2025 killed five terrorist leaders, captured one alive and arrested five logistics suppliers.
Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Markus Kangye made the revelation while giving update on military operations during the period.
Maj.-Gen. Kangye added that troops also destroyed 122 illegal refining sites and recovered stolen products worth N7,428,648,246.00 during the period.
He said operations led to the killing of terrorist commanders including Abba Allai (aka Amirul Khalid of Alafa), Abdullahi (aka Honour), Jagaban and Dan Danger, amongst others.
The director also added that another terrorist kingpin, Abdullahi Ali was captured alive with severe gun injuries.
“While this efforts by our gallant troops created gaps in the command and leadership structures of BHTs as well as ISWAP/JAS terrorists. There were also infighting for supremacy within the ranks of the various terrorist factions, which sparked cracks in their leadership hierarchy, hence the observed confusion in their various camps.
“Our gallant troops exploited the situation and dealt decisively with them on various fronts, hence their resort to attack on soft targets and the use of IEDs and isolated ambushes,” Maj.-Gen. Kangye disclosed.
He said the sustained operations against the terrorists also led to the arrest of scores of them, as many kidnapped hostages were rescued while scores also surrendered to the Nigerian troops.
Kangye also named the gunrunners and terrorists’ logistics suppliers arrested by the troops to include Alhaji Mansur Mohammed, Shehu Babangida, Sagi David, Blessing Paul and Shuaibu Maji.
He gave a breakdown of recovered products to include 6,290,437 litres of stolen crude oil, 1,319,350 litres of illegally refined AGO, 6,130 litres of DPK and 4,545 litres of PMS.
The troops also discovered and destroyed 257 crude oil cooking ovens, 128 dugout pits, 192 boats, 138 storage tanks, 236 drums during the period.
He listed items recovered from oil thieves as unspecified number of barges, speedboats, pumping machines, drilling machines, and over 90 vehicles.
Relatedly, troops recovered huge quantities of assorted arms comprising various kinds of machine guns, RPG tubes, automatic weapons as well as locally fabricated guns and IEDs.
Additionally, huge cache of assorted 7.62mm and 9mm ammunition, as well as live cartridges were also recovered from the criminal elements within the period.
