The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), on Friday, declared that the nation’s armed forces remained focused in its counter-insurgency campaign against terrorists and their cohorts operating across the country.
This was contained in a statement made available to Defence Correspondents in Abuja by Director Defence Media Operations DMO Major General Edward Buba on ongoing Military Operations by the Armed Forces of Nigeria AFN and other security agencies in the country against insurgency activities in the various theatres of operations across the six geo-political zones as at January 5 this year.
He pointed out that the operations have prevented the evil elements from accomplishing their strategic
According to him, “The armed forces remains focussed and is continuing its counter-insurgency campaign against terrorists and their cohorts operating across the country. Our operations have prevented these evil elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives.
“Accordingly, troops are hunting terrorists in their hiding places and conducting targeted offensives against them to destroy them. Combat teams have neutralised several of the terrorist leadership and their foot soldiers as well as degraded their military capabilities.
“During the week in focus, troops conducted ambushes, raids ,fighting patrols and other forms of offensives against the terrorist.
“These offensive actions resulted in 43 neutralized terrorists and 115 arrests. Troops recovered 87 assorted weapons and 666 assorted ammunition.
“Furthermore, troops arrested 17 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 39 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Hundred and Fifty Nine Million Six Hundred and Fifty Two Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Naira (N159,652,620.00) only.
“The breakdown of weapons and other items recovered are as follows: 11 AK47 rifles, one FN rifles, 2 pump action guns, 8 locally fabricated guns, 11 dane guns, 2 locally fabricated pistols, one macarrol pistol, one berretta pistol, one fabricated SMG, one locally made mortar with one empty bomb, 4 IEDs, 17 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 592 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 4 rounds of 7.5mm ammo, one round of 9mm ammo and 36 live cartridges.
“Others are: 18 empty cases of 7.62mm special, 2 bandolier, 13 magazines, 6 vehicles, 21 mobile phones, 9 motorcycles, 15 bicycles, 2 tricycles, 5 boafeng HH radios and the sum of N1,601,370.00 amongst other items.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area destroyed 20 dugout pits, 29 boats, 31 storage tanks, one tricycle and 3 vehicles. Other items recovered incl 24 cooking ovens, 3 pump machines, and 25 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 315,700 litres of stolen crude oil, 1,200 litres of illegally refined AGO and 3,158 litres of DPK
He assured the nation that the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies in the country would defeat the terrorists on the battlefield and in their hiding places in order that the country could flourish again, saying that “We have no choice but to win this war for the betterment of our Nation”.
According to him, “We call on the public to continue to act responsibly and be forthcoming for the progress of our nation. Citizens are urged to see themselves as the outstretched arm of the military in this war and to create conditions that would hasten victory.”
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