An Army operation in Nasarawa State, Operation Whirl Stroke on Tuesday night engaged Bassa militia groups in a crossfire at Zwere camp in Toto Local Government Area of the state and seized 45 assorted weapons and 701 different categories of ammunition.
Major Gen. Adeyemi Yakini, commander of the operation made this known while presenting the items recovered by the troops to journalists at the state NUJ secretariat in Lafia, saying the Nigerian soldiers at Ugya in Toto LGA of the state ambushed the suspected militia element, nobody died in the fire exchange, but escaped with gun wounds.
His words; “We were able to trace these armed men to their camp at Zwere within Toto LGA and two days ago we began the red operation around 3:00 hour, yesterday and continued 10:00 hours in the morning. These are the weapons and ammunition recovered.
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“39 locally made rifles, 3 local pistols and 1 SMG, 62×7.62mm special rounds, 72×7.62mm NATO rounds, 510x 9mm round of ammunition and 57 x cartridges. 100 9mm pistol links, 5 G3 rifle magazines and 4 Revolvers cartridge holders. Which made a total of 45 assaulted weapons and 701 assorted ammunitions recovered” he stressed.
According to him, the Operation Whirl Stroke, an international force that came on board about eight months ago with the mandate to put an end to the incessant killings by armed herdsmen, militia groups and other criminal elements operating in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States.
Adding that the force has also conducted a series of operations across the three states and have made recoveries of arms and ammunition and even arrested some suspects.
and then