Nigerian troops in conjunction with hybrid forces maintained aggressive operational tempo against terrorists and violence elements in the country through out the first quarter of this year,
The Director Defence Media Operations Major General Markus Kangye who disclosed this while giving a break down of military activities between January and March said some key commanders of terrorists group were eliminated.
According to him, troops demonstrated uncommon , resilience, determination and strong will during various encounters throughout the quarter, including fighting and confidence building patrols, raids, ambushes and clearance as well as search and rescue operations with remarkable outcomes.
Air component also conducted reconnaissance, close air support and interdiction missions with high success rates, which seriously degraded the terrorists strength and will to fight.
During the quarter, terrorist commanders such as Abba Allai (aka Amirul Khalid of Alafa), Abdullahi (aka Honour), Jagaban and Dan Danger amongst others were neutralized, Abdullahi Ali who was captured alive with severe gun wounds.
He said that while this efforts by our gallant troops created gaps in the command and leadership structures of BHTs as well as ISWAP/JAS terrorists.
” There were also infighting for supremacy within the ranks of the various terrorist factions, which sparked cracks in their leadership hierarchy, hence the observed confusion in their various camps.
He said our gallant troops exploited the situation and dealt decisively with them on various fronts, hence their resort to attack on soft targets and the use of IEDs and isolated ambushes. The sustained operations against the terrorists also led to the arrest of scores of them, rescue of kidnapped hostages while many of surrendered to our troops.
Some gunrunners and terrorists’ logistics suppliers such as Alhaji Mansur Mohammed, Shehu Babangida, Sagi David, Blessing Paul, Shuaibu Maji were also arrested.
During the Quarter, Operation DELTA SAFE foiled oil theft worth over Seven Billion, Four Hundred and Twenty-Eight Million, Six Hundred and Forty-Eight Thousand, Two Hundred and Forty-Six Naira (7,428,648,246.00) only. The breakdown indicates: 6,290,437 litres of stolen crude oil, 1,319,350 litres of illegally refined AGO, 6,130 litres of DPK and 4,545 litres of PMS.
Additionally, troops discovered and destroyed 257 crude oil cooking ovens, 128 dugout pits, 192 boats, 138 storage tanks, 236 drums and 122 illegal refining sites. Other items recovered include; barge, speedboats, pumping machines, drilling machines, and over 90 vehicles.
In related development troops recovered huge quantities of assorted arms including various kinds of machine guns, RPG tubes, automatic weapons as well as locally fabricated guns and IEDs
Huge cache of assorted 7.62mm and 9mm ammunition, as well as live cartridges were also recovered. (Sleeknews)
