Military making operational adjustment to protect farmers – DHQ

The Defence Headquarters says operational adjustments have been made by the military to prioritise protection for farmers to ensure a successful rainy season farming.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, made this known on Friday in Abuja while giving updates on the operations of the armed forces.

Buba said the armed forces had intensified intelligence collection effort targeted at hunting terrorists and striking them where they may be hiding and hibernating.

He said the aim was to eliminate the terrorists and the infrastructure that supports their activities.

According to him, troops will continue to employ significant firepower to neutralise terrorists and disrupt their activities across the country.

“Winning the war against the terrorist is non-negotiable,” he said.

Buba said the troops had, in different operations, neutralised 220, apprehended 395 suspects and rescued 202 kidnapped hostages in the last one week.

He added that troops recovered 432 assorted weapons and 9,004 assorted ammunition comprising three PKT guns, one G3 rifle, 83 AK47 rifles and 18 locally-fabricated guns.

Also recovered were 16 dane guns, 14 RPG bombs, one RPG launcher, two tear gas launchers, 234 smoke grenades and one bandolier.

Others include 5,893 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 2,064 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 401 rounds of 9mm ammo, 200 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 154 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm, 195 live cartridges, and 17 magazines.

In the North-East, Buba said, the troops of Operation Hadin Kai neutralised 83 terrorists, arrested 98 suspects and rescued 61 kidnappers hostages.

Assorted arms were also recovered, he added.

In the North-Central, troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke neutralised 37 insurgents, arrested 102 violent extremists and rescued 113 kidnapped hostages, he said.

In the North-West, Buba said the troops of Operations Hadarin Daji and Whirl Punch, neutralised 78 terrorists, arrested 103 terrorists and rescued 68 kidnapped hostages.

Buba said the troops of Operation Delta Safe in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 105 illegal refining sites with 51 dugout pits, 38 boats and 51 storage tanks.

He said the troops also recovered 215 cooking ovens, two speedboats, 44 drums, three tug boats, three barges, four wheelbarrows, one outboard engine, 15 vehicles, three motorcycles and six mobile phones.

According to him, troops recovered 1.09 million litres of stolen crude oil, 1.1 million litres of illegally refined AGO, 27,350 litres of DPK and 150 litres of PMS.

“Troops also arrested 55 perpetrators of oil theft and denied the oil thieves an estimated sum of N1.8 billion,” he said.

In the South-East, Buba said the troops of Operation UDO KA neutralised 22 terrorists, arrested 37 violent extremists, rescued 15 kidnapped hostages and also recovered a large cache of arms.