The military has alarmed Nigerians that it has uncovered a desperate recruitment drive on social media by terrorists, particularly the ISWAP terrorist group, and vowed that troops will sustain the offensives to eliminate all threats by the terrorists.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen Edward Buba, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, affirming that troops operations had severely depleted their ranks and files.
Buba also revealed that synchronized air strikes by the air force as well as ground operations by ground forces had dislodged terrorists from their enclaves killing several of them.
The air component of Operation HADIN KAI, on 6 Nov 24, conducted targeted air strikes on terrorists located at KWALLARAM and ARAINNA CIKI islands in Borno State.
The strikes resulted in the neutralization of over 70 extremist members at KWALLARAM, with several more killed at ARAINNA CIKI.
Buba said troops neutralised 169 and arrested 641 persons and intensify offensive against terrorist and insurgents across the country.
He said troops also arrested 40 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 181 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, 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.
“Troops recovered 192 assorted weapons and 2,970 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 106 AK47 rifles, 38 fabricated rifles, 26 dane guns, one FN rifle, 3 fabricated revolver pistol, 11 locally made pistols, 5 pump action guns, ome dummy AK47 rifle and one unexploded RPG bomb”, the spokesman added.
“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.
“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.”
