Reinforcing last week’s ferocity, troops eliminated 156 terrorists, nabbed 464 others while rescuing 181 hostages in just two weeks of superlative counter-terrorism strikes across the country, Defence Headquarters disclosed yesterday in Abuja.
Outgoing Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba made the disclosures on yesterday at a defence correspondents briefing drawing the curtain on his widely adjudged brilliant bi-weekly appearances at DHQ as defence media spokesman. He proceeds to the think tank Nigerian Army Resource Center, Abuja as a senior directing staff.
Major General Edward Buba said that the troops within the period also arrested 29 suspected oil thieves and recovered stolen products worth N623, 447, 390.00 in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
He further disclosed that troops across the various theatres of operation in the six geo-political zones of the country recovered no less than 219 assorted weapons and 2,871 assorted ammunition within the period under review.
The breakdown of recovered weapons comprised one GPMG, 68 AK47 rifles, one AK56 rifle, 12 fabricated rifles, four FN rifles, four dane guns, seven pump action guns, one foreign double barrel gun, nine fabricated IEDs, 18 FN grenades, six RPG bombs, 27 magazines, four IEDs and its making materials.
Other items recovered during the period were 1,618 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 676 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 16 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm ammo, 68 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 317 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 73 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, 175 rounds of PKT ammo, one box of 12.7mm ammo, 25 live cartridges, one baofeng radio, 10 vehicles, 42 motorcycles, 29 mobile phones, amongst other items.
Also, troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 46 illegal refining sites, 48 crude oil cooking ovens, 10 dugout pits, and 56 storage tanks while also recovering 705,294 litres of stolen crude oil, 6,865 litres of illegally refined AGO, 1,500 litres of DPK and 800 litres of PMS.
Other items recovered in the area included 28 boats, eight pumping machines, six speedboats, three outboard engines, six drums, eight motorcycles, one mobile phone and eight vehicles, among others.
Major General Edward Buba remarked, “Overall, the military is profoundly conscious of its role and responsibility in ending insurgency and terrorism in the nation.
“Accordingly, troops are thwarting and eliminating forms of resurgent terror attacks in the North-West and North-East, caused by influx of foreign fighters from the Sahelian Region.
“Though troops might record occasional tactical setbacks which is common place in any theatre of war, our strategic objective of breaking the terrorists’ will to fight remains resolute and unhindered”, he said, urging citizens to embrace security as everybody’s business and not only that of the military.
“Citizens must not compromise on security, otherwise everyone’s security is compromised,” he noted.
