Troops kill 88 terrorists, arrest 228 suspects in one week

Troops of the Nigerian military have recorded successes in their operations in the week, killing 88 terrorists and arresting 228 suspects.

The Defence Headquarters, in a statement on Thursday by the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen Buba Edward, said the killings and arrests were recorded at various operations in the northern parts of the country.

He said, “Troops are on an onslaught to crush terrorists in the North West and other parts of the country.

“Accordingly, operations are being modified to box in these terrorists while also increasing operational intensity to ensure the destruction of all terror groups and the dismantling of their terror networks.

“Meanwhile, during the week under review, troops neutralised 88 and arrested 228 persons. Troops also arrested 40 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 181 kidnapped hostages.”

He added that in the South-South, troops recovered stolen crude oil worth N1bn.

“In the South-South, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of N1,021,412,950.00.

“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 13 crude oil cooking ovens, 20 dugout pits, 73 boats, 25 storage tanks and 59 illegal refining sites.

“Other items recovered include three barges, seven speedboats, 73 drums, one tricycle, five pumping machines, three mobile phones and nine vehicles, among others.

“Troops recovered 942,420 litres of stolen crude oil, 175,075 litres of illegally refined AGO and 4,980 litres of PMS,” Buba said.

He said troops recovered 84 assorted weapons and 2,393  ammunition.

“The breakdown is as follows: 34 AK-47 rifles, 15 fabricated rifles, 11 Dane guns, five fabricated revolver pistols, eight locally made pistols, three pump action guns and one magnum pump action.

“Others are 1,807 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 314 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 146 rounds of 7.62mm PKM ammo, 77 rounds of 9mm ammo, 49 live cartridges, 25 magazines, two baofeng radios, 16 vehicles, 35 motorcycles, 27 mobile phones and the sum of N1,851,000.00 only amongst other items,” Buba said.