The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Friday disclosed that troops deployed to different theatres of operations neutralised 43 terrorists and arrested 115 in the one week.
The DDMO also said troops arrested 17 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 39 kidnapped hostages.
This was contained in a statement Friday by Director Defence Media Operations, Maj-Gen. Edward Buba.
He said during the week in focus, the military conducted ambushes, raids, fighting patrols and other forms of offensive against terrorists.
He disclosed that in the South South region, troops denied the oil thieves crude estimated to be worth N159,652,620 only.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area destroyed 20 dugout pits, 29 boats, 31 storage tanks, one tricycle and 3 vehicles.
“Other items recovered incl 24 cooking ovens, 3 pump machines, and 25 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 315,700 litres of stolen crude oil, 1,200 litres of illegally refined AGO and 3,158 litres of DPK,” he said.
According to him, troops recovered 87 assorted weapons and 666 assorted ammunition.
He said the breakdown of weapons and other items recovered are as follows: “11 AK47 rifles, one FN rifles, 2 pump action guns, 8 locally fabricated guns, 11 dane guns, 2 locally fabricated pistols, one macarrol pistol, one berretta pistol, one fabricated SMG, one locally made mortar with one empty bomb, 4 IEDs, 17 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 592 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 4 rounds of 7.5mm ammo, one round of 9mm ammo and 36 live cartridges.
“Others are 18 empty cases of 7.62mm special, 2 bandolier, 13 magazines, 6 vehicles, 21 mobile phones, 9 motorcycles, 15 bicycles, 2 tricycles, 5 boafeng HH radios and the sum of N1,601,370.00 amongst other items.”
He assured that the armed forces will defeat the terrorists on the battlefield and in their hiding places in order that the country can flourish again.
“We have no choice but to win this war for the betterment of our nation. The armed forces remains focussed and is continuing its counter-insurgency campaign against terrorists and their cohorts operating across the country.
“Our operations have prevented these evil elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives. Accordingly, troops are hunting terrorists in their hiding places and conducting targeted offensives against them to destroy them. Combat teams have neutralised several of the terrorist leadership and their foot soldiers as well as degraded their military capabilities.”
