Troops neutralise 70 terrorists in Borno

Defence Headquarters, on Saturday,y, disclosed that over 70 Terrorists have been killed in the Air strikes conducted by the air component of Operation HADIN KAI on terrorists located at KWALLARAM and Ariana CIKI islands in Borno.

This was contained in a statement made available to Defence Correspondents in Abuja by Director, Defence Media Operations, Major Gen Edward Buba, on the Military operations against insurgency activities as at November 9.

According to the statement, “The strikes resulted in the neutralisation of over 70 extremist members at KWALLARAM, with several more killed at ARAINNA CIKI”.

It explained that the gallant troops intensified the offensive against terrorists and insurgents across the country, during which Synchronized air strikes by the air force as well as ground operations by ground forces dislodging terrorists from their enclaves, killing several of them.

The statement added during the week under review, the troops neutralised 169 and arrested 641 persons.

“Troops also arrested 40 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 181 kidnapped hostage while in the South-South, the troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Billion Four Hundred and Two Million Nine Hundred and One Thousand Nine Hundred Naira (N1,402,001,900.00) only.

“Furthermore, troops recovered 192 assorted weapons and 2,970 assorted ammunition.

“The breakdown is as follows: 106 AK47 rifles, 38 fabricated rifles, 26 Dane guns, one FN rifle, 3 fabricated revolver pistols, 11 locally made pistols, 5 pump action guns, ome dummy AK47 rifle, one unexploded RPG bomb, 2

“Others are 1,410 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,074 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 67 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 130 rounds of 108mm, 101 rounds of 9mm ammo, 146 live cartridges, 2 baofeng radios, 7 vehicles, 29 motorcycles, 40 mobile phones and the sum of N729,000.00 only amongst other items.

“The Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 20 crude oil cooking ovens, 2 dugout pits, 42 boats, 7 reservoirs, 5 drums, 50 storage tanks, and 83 illegal refining sites.

“Other items recovered include 3 pumping machines, 3 outboard engines, one generator set, one speedboat, 8 motorcycles, 3 mobile phones and 3 vehicles among others.

“Troops recovered 914,445 litres of stolen crude oil, 537,325 litres of illegally refined AGO and 1,285 litres of PMS.”

“On the whole, troops operations have severely depleted the ranks and files. Consequently, the terrorists are forced into a desperate recruitment drive on social media, particularly the ISWAP terrorist group. Troops will sustain the offensives to eliminate all threats.”