By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
The Nigerian Military has said that its troops have neutralized scores of terrorists and bandits including senior BHT/ISWAP and ESN commanders as well as major bandits leaders.
Speaking yesterday while giving update on the military operations in the country,
Brigadier General Bernard Onyeuku,
Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, said the operations took place recently across the country.
He added that many of the fighters were incapacitated and their camps destroyed through artillery and air bombardments.
Additionally, he said troops rescued several kidnapped victims and arrested bandits/kidnappers informants and collaborators in different parts of the country.
“Our operations also inhibited activities of economic saboteurs as well as exposed and forestalled other criminal activities. Troops also recovered large caches of arms and ammunition as well as equipment, vehicles and livestock within the period. In the maritime domain, troops disrupted smuggling activities, immobilized illegal refining sites, arrested some perpetrators, seized illegally imported rice and other contraband goods as well as recovered petroleum products.
“Although some of our personnel paid the supreme price in the course of these operations, our dogged troops consistently demonstrated gallantry and resilience.
“As you know, security is everybody’s concern, thus, we encourage every well-meaning Nigerian to support the efforts of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies, by providing credible and timely information that will facilitate proactive engagements to address the threats. The plans and efforts of the criminal elements to perpetrate nefarious activities so as to discredit the government and efforts of security forces will in no way deter us from sustaining the tempo of operations.”