Emmanuel Olabiwonninu

The Defence Headquarters said troops have eliminated no fewer than 213 terrorists and arrested 283 others in different theatres of operation across the country in the last week.

A statement by the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen Edward Buba, on Thursday in Abuja said troops within the period also apprehended 67 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 26 kidnapped hostages.

According to Buba, the troops also recovered 189 assorted weapons and 4,003 assorted ammunition, comprising 111 AK-47 rifles, G3 rifles, 31 locally fabricated guns, five pump-action guns, automatic pump-action guns, and 26 Dane guns, among others.

Also recovered were 2,766 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 982 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 240 live cartridges, two shotgun cartridges, 13 rounds of 9mm ammo, and 36 empty cases of 7.62mm ammo.

Other items according to him, are 38 magazines, three G3 magazines, eight vehicles, 44 motorcycles, 19 mobile phones, four bicycles, rifle butt, rifle stock and the sum of N628,000 amongst other items.

In the North-east, Mr Buba said the troops of Operation Hadin Kai, eliminated 70 terrorists and arrested 23 BH/ISWAP terrorists as well as recovered one G3 rifle, 50 AK47 rifles, 1,012 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 243 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 13 motorcycles, 10 bicycles amongst others.

He said that a total of 472 ISWAP/JAS terrorists fighters and their families comprising 26 adult males, 146 adult females and 300 children surrendered to troops within the theatre of operations.

According to him, the air component neutralised several ISWAP/JAS terrorists and destroyed their logistics within the Southern Tumbuns.

In the North-central, Mr Buba said the troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke killed nine insurgents and arrested 18 violent extremists within the week.

He said the troops also recovered several arms, ammunition and other items.

In the North-west, he said the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji killed 26 terrorists and rescued 15 kidnapped hostages during the week.

He said the air component had on 5 March knocked out terrorists’ commanders and their foot soldiers hibernating in Southern Tsaskiya, Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State.

According to him, the Battle Damage Assessment revealed that several terrorists were killed and their structures destroyed.

“Similarly, on March 6, following credible intelligence and confirmatory ISR the air component in multiple passes conducted air interdiction at terrorists’ commander Alhaji Nashama’s and Jammo Smally’s enclaves in Birnin Magaji and Maradun Local Government Areas of Zamfara.

“The locations were thoroughly scanned and observed to be active with terrorists’ activities and attacked with rockets and cannons.

“Battle Damage Assessment revealed that several terrorists were neutralized and their structures destroyed,” he said.

Mr Buba added that troops of Operation Whirl Punch killed 17 insurgents, arrested 42 violent extremists/terrorists and rescued nine kidnapped hostages.

He said the air component also conducted air interdiction at terrorists’ commander Alhaji Labi’s enclave in Gaude Forest, Kaduna State following confirmation of resurgence of terrorists at the location.

He said soldiers attacked the location killing several terrorists and destroying their logistics.

In the South-south, Mr Buba said the troops of Operation Delta Safe discovered and destroyed 45 illegal refining sites with 150 dugout pits, 30 boats, 73 storage tanks, 209 drums and 15 vehicles.

According to him, other items recovered include 105 cooking ovens, three pumping machines, two outboard engines, one tricycle and four motorcycles.

He added that the troops recovered 1.2 million litres of stolen crude oil, 313,780 litres of illegally refined AGO and 13,000 litres of PMS during the week.

In the South-east, Mr Buba said the troops of Operation UDO KA killed 26 terrorists and recovered three G3 rifles, 12 AK47 rifles, one fabricated gun, two pump action guns, automatic pump action guns, RPG bombs and 269 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo.

Other items recovered are 216 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 172 live cartridges, eight IEDs (OGBUNIGWE), four AK47 magazines, three G3 magazines and three motorcycles amongst other items.

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