By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), has announced that its troops neutralized a total of 86 terrorists, arrested 101 of others and denied oil theft of the estimated sum of N736,115,470.00 in the last one week.
Director, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major-General Edward Buba, who made this known in Abuja on Thursday, said the troops also arrested 30 perpetrators of oil theft in the South-South geo-political zone and rescued 21 kidnapped hostages.
Major-General Buba, who was briefing the media on military operations by the Armed Forces of Nigeria, said the aim of the ongoing operations remained unchanged and clear even in the new year 2024.
“Our aim is to find and destroy the terrorist wherever they may be hiding in order to ensure their enduring defeat. This would deny the terrorist the ability to terrorize or hurt citizens across country,” he stated.
He added that in pursuit of that goal, “troops have in the last one week, focussed on striking the terrorist enclaves from our air attacks. We also exerted significant military power on areas in which the terrorists are hibernating.”
He furthermore disclosed that the troops recovered 111 assorted weapons and 1,124 assorted ammunitions.
“The breakdown as follows: 65 AK47 rifles, one HK G3 dun, one G3 rifle, 8 locally fabricated guns, 15 dane guns, 2 fabricated rifles, one locally made pistol, one English pistol, one pump action gun, 2 auto pump action gun, 2 single barrel guns.
“Others are: 14 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 993 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 5 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 5 rounds of 7.62mm x 39mm, 99 live cartridges, one round of 9mm ammo, one of short gun cartridge, 2 bandoliers, 2 fabricated swords, 13 magazines, 5 vehicles, 29 motorcycles, 6 bicycles, mobile phones and one GTA radio amongst other items,” he revealed.
Shedding light on the military operations in the Niger Delta area, Buba said that troops discovered and destroyed 37 dugout pits, 65 boats, 71 storage tanks, 14 vehicles. Other items recovered incl 108 cooking ovens, 4 pump machines, one speedboat and 60 illegal refining sites.
‘Troops recovered 1,013,530 litres of stolen crude oil, 299,169 litres of illegally refined AGO and 3,158 litres of DPK,” he added.
According to the DMO Director, “our operations clearly indicate that we are hunting the terrorist commanders and their senior leadership. Indeed, from their topmost leadership to the lowest commanders are dead men walking and we will stop at nothing until they are dead or surrender.”
He declared that the armed forces had demonstrated commitment by their actions to winning the war on terror, promising that troops would therefore continue to act with tremendous force to achieve the task ahead.
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