Nigerian Army Kills 213 Terrorists, Arrests 283 In Various Operations

The Defense Headquarters (DHQ) said the Nigerian army has successfully killed at least 213 terrorists and arrested 283 other people in various operations across the country in just one week.

The Director of Defense Media Operations Edward Buba said Thursday in Abuja that the troops were able to arrest 67 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 26 kidnapped hostages within the same period.

They also found 189 different weapons and 4,003 types of ammunition. This included 111 AK47 rifles, G3 rifles, 31 homemade guns, five pump action guns, automatic pump action guns, and 26 Dane guns, among others.

He mentioned they also seized other weapons, such as 2,766 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition, 982 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 240 live cartridges, 2 shotgun cartridges, 13 rounds of 9mm ammunition, and 36 empty cases of 7.62mm ammunition.

The troops found other items, including 38 magazines, three G3 magazines, eight vehicles, 44 motorcycles, 19 mobile phones, four bicycles, rifle butts, rifle stock and the sum of N628,000 amongst other items.

Whereas, in the northeast, the Operation Hadin Kai troops killed 70 terrorists and detained 23 terrorists. They also seized one G3 rifle, 50 AK47 rifles, 1,012 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition, 243 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 13 motorcycles, 10 bicycles, and other items.

A total of 472 ISWAP/JAS terrorists and their families surrendered to troops in the area. This group included 26 adult males, 146 adult females, and 300 children, as per Buba.

"Similarly, on March 6, following credible intelligence and confirmatory ISR the air component in multiple passes conducted air interdiction at terrorists' commander Alhaji Nashama's and Jammo Smally's enclaves in Birnin Magaji and Maradun Local Government Areas of Zamfara," he said, Premium Times reported.

"The locations were thoroughly scanned and observed to be active with terrorists' activities and attacked with rockets and cannons. Battle Damage Assessment revealed that several terrorists were neutralized and their structures destroyed."

Furthermore, Buba noted that the troops of Operation Delta Safe discovered and destroyed 45 illegal refining sites with 150 dugout pits, 30 boats, 73 storage tanks, 209 drums and 15 vehicles.

Other items recovered include 105 cooking ovens, three pumping machines, two outboard engines, one tricycle and four motorcycles. "All recovered items, arrested suspects and rescued hostages were handed over to the relevant authority for further action," he concluded.