Troops Kill Terrorist Commander Munzur Ya Audu, 114 Others, Arrest 238

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said that troops on internal operations killed a notorious terrorist commander, Munzur Ya Audu, 114 others and arrested 238 terrorists in one week.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, who stated this on Thursday, said troops also lost eight soldiers, five in the North-East and three in the South-East and rescued 138 hostages within the week.

In the fight against oil theft, he troops arrested 51 suspected oil thieves and recovered stolen crude worth N921,847,146.00

He said the Armed Forces recognises the need to continue to act and respond forcefully against terrorists in order to find and destroy them and their cohorts. “Accordingly, we are collecting intelligence, hunting them and striking locations in which they are confirmed to be hibernating.”

He said a notorious terrorist commander named Munzur Ya Audu was killed in the North-East through well executed operations.

General Buba said troops recovered 145 assorted weapons and 3,825 assorted ammunition.

He said troops were making serious efforts to dismantle the terrorist capabilities as well as the destroy their terror networks.

“Troops are also actively targeting terrorist logistics bases and other structures that have affiliation to terror groups,” he stated.

He gave a breakdown of recovered weapons as follows: one GPMG, two PKT guns, 68 AK47 rifles, two AK56 rifles, 24 fabricated rifles, 28 dane guns, one fabricated revolver pistol, six locally made pistols, one pistol, eight pump action guns, one hand grenade, four fabricated hand grenades, one RPG bomb and three explosives.

Other items recovered include: 2,093 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 246 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 317 rounds of 7.62mm GPMG/PKM ammo, 129 live cartridges, 28 shotgun cartridges, 500 empty case of MG ammo, 147 empty cases of 7.62mm ammo, three empty cases of cartridges, 54 magazines, three baofeng radios, three handheld radios, one bandolier, 12 vehicles, 24 motorcycles, 11 bicycles, 51 mobile phones and the sum of N7,245,500.00 only amongst other items.

Meanwhile, in the Niger Delta, troops discovered and destroyed 56 illegal refining sites, 78 crude oil cooking ovens, 21 dugout pits, 56 boats, 56 drums and 26 storage tanks.

Other items recovered include two speedboats, one barge, two tricycles, one pumping machine, two walkie talkie, two outboard engines, nine mobile phones and 12 vehicles, among others.

Troops also recovered 872,070 litres of stolen crude oil and 67,985 litres of illegally refined AGO.

Buba said troops have also exerted significant military power on areas in which the terrorists are hibernating.

He reiterated that, “we are at war against a cruel and vicious enemy. It is therefore imperative that we degrade their military capability and effectiveness.”