No fewer than 24,059 Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists and their family members have so far surrendered to Nigerian troops in North East, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said on Thursday.
Bernard Onyeuko (Major General), Acting Director, Defence Media Operations (DMO) who disclosed this in Abuja said all surrendered terrorists have been properly profiled and handed over to appropriate authorities for necessary action. According to him, the mass surrender is as a result of troops’ overwhelming superior combat power and intelligence activities.
While giving a breakdown of the activities of troops since May 2o, 2021 to January 6 across the country Onyeuko said a total of 1,910 criminal elements including terrorists, armed bandits, herdsmen, robbers and kidnappers were killed across the Country. “This is in addition to scores of other terrorists and armed bandits killed during air strikes within the period. Troops also rescued a total of 729 kidnapped victims across the Country,” he added.
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“In addition, a total of 2,385 rounds of different calibres of ammunition and 253 rustled livestock were recovered, while a total of 14 gun trucks of the terrorists were destroyed in the course of the operations, while 16 gun trucks were captured by own troops within the period”, he further said.
In the Southern Region the director said troops of Operation Delta safely destroyed a total of 145 illegal refining sites, 209 ovens, 122 cooking pots/boilers, 161 cooling systems, 224 reservoirs, 160 large dugout pits and 367 storage tanks in the Niger Delta Region.
He further informed that 13,201,300 litres of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil and 3,969,000 litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene were discovered, while 38,582 barrels and 6,491,000 litres of stolen crude oil was also discovered within the period.
“Gleaning from the available information as I have just presented, there is no gain saying that our operational performance for the year 2021 shows our commitment to ensure peace is restored in the Country. It shows the synergy between the Nigerian military and other Security Agencies is succeeding in tackling the security challenges facing the Country” he said.
The Director assured that the military will sustain the offensive and will not relent until peace is restored to every troubled zone in Nigeria.
