At least 252 Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists have been killed by troops operating in the North East region in the last two weeks.
Major-General Musa Danmadami, director, Defence Media Operations, who made this known on Thursday in Abuja, also disclosed that a Boko Haram informant named Mamuda Usman (aka Bado) was arrested by the Military’s tactical surveillance troops in Asokoro, the Federal Capital Territory.
“It was revealed that the suspect ran errands for a suspected high profiled Boko Haram terrorist commander in Kaduna, who is on the tracking list of security agencies. The arrested suspect is in custody for further action,” the director said.
Danmadami, further informed that Troops of Operation Hadin Kai conducted operational activities at the fringes of various villages and communities in the North East region which led to the neutralisation of 52 suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists and 14 others arrested.
“In a related development, on 3 September 2022, the land and air component of Operation Hadin Kai in a coordinated attack on identified terrorist enclaves at Gabchari in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State dealt a deadly blow on the terrorists, as their enclaves were bombarded. The air strike resulted in the neutralization of a large number of the insurgents, while the land component mopped up the fleeing terrorists. Feedback from various sources, revealed that over 200 terrorists were neutralized, including five high profiled commanders,” the director stated.
In the North West region, Danmadami said troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralized 17 terrorists, arrested 38 suspected terrorists, rescued 61 civilians, recovered 10 AK47 rifles, 3 locally made guns, 4 fabricated revolver rifles, 253 rounds of 7.62mm special, 68 motorcycles, among others.
In the fight against oil theft in the Niger Delta region, the director informed that troops of Operation Delta Safe, in the last two weeks, discovered and destroyed 67 illegal refining sites, 11 wooden boats, 218 storage tanks, 168 cooking ovens, and 61 dugout pits. He said all a total of N1. 2 billion was denied oil thieves during the period under review.
The director, however lamented that despite efforts by the military to deny oil thieves of crude oil products, they continue to thrive. He, however pointed out that the responsibility of securing the oil rich region is not for the military alone, but must involve other stakeholders.
‘We are doing our best, day in day out, as you are closing down one place, a different one is opening up the next day. You can imagine the environmental colossal damage in that region, just one part of fire while troops are in operation, the whole of the whole of them will be roasted, so they are taking enormous risk,” he said.