By Emmanuel Obisue
Nigerian troops have naturalised a total of 216 terrorists and have arrested 332 others in Nigeria’s Northeast and Northwest regions within the last two weeks.
Disclosing this at the weekend, the Nigerian Defence Headquarters said troops also recovered “assorted” weapons and ammunitions, even as it vowed to continue kinetic and non-kinetic approaches against terrorists in ongoing counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations across the country.
“Indeed, we will banish and defeat terrorism from the nation rather than bow to it,” Major General Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations stated.
He said troops “recovered 234 assorted weapons and 5,994 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 131 AK47 rifles, 3 PKT guns, one M16 rifle, 43 locally fabricated gun, 21 dane guns, one 105mm gun, 2 automatic pump action guns, 18 locally fabricated pistols, 8 single barrel guns, 2 automatic pump action guns, one LG4 bomb, one MG skeleton, 3 explosive IED case, one MOWAG APC, one 81mm mortar tripod stand”.
“Others are: 3,120 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 2,195 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 211 rounds of 9mm ammo, 99 rounds of 7.62 x 25mm ammo, 467 live cartridges, one rifle butt, 15 magazines, 2 baofeng radios, 10 vehicles, 38 motorcycles, 43 mobile phones and the sum of N871,500.00 amongst other items,” he added.
The DHQ insisted that its troops are maintaining the momentum in neutralizing the terrorist leaders and commanders. “Indeed, we remain focused on fighting for the basic safety and security of citizens of this country”.
