Troops of the Nigerian military fighting to rid the country of terrorists and other criminal elements, in May 2024, eliminated a total of 624 terrorists, kidnappers and arrested 1,051 others, including informants, and logistics suppliers.
Troops rescued 563 kidnapped victims, after several raids on bandits' and kidnappers' hideout and exchange of gunfire
Following the encounters, troops recovered 707 assorted weapons, 16,487 assorted ammunitions and denied the oil theft of an estimated sum of over N700 million.
The arms and ammunition recovered include 411 AK-47 rifles, 234 locally fabricated guns, 43 pump action guns, 231 Dane guns, 10,782 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 4,310 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 1,623 rounds 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 1,023 rounds of 511 rounds of 9mm and 2,100 live cartridges.
Others are 4,871,470 litres of stolen crude oil, 931,416 litres of illegally refined AGO and 4,480 litres of PMS amongst other item.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major Gen Edward Buba, who made the disclosure said the joint operational environment in synergy with other security and intelligence agencies greatly assisted in the optimal performance of troops in the conduct of the operations.
He said: "In the North East, troops of Operation Hadin Kai neutralized 69 terrorists, arrested 87 suspects and rescued 28 kidnappers hostages.
"Troops recovered 45 AK-47 rifles, four fabricated rifles, 10 dane guns, one UXO (1 x 120mm mortar bomb), one rocket launcher, 15 magazines, one AA round, 1,375 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 584 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 85 rounds of 7.62 by 54mm ammo, 171 rounds of 5.56mm ammo, 2 baofeng radios, 13 motorcycles, 9 mobile phones and the sum of N517,000.00 only amongst others.
"On May 22 and 24, 2024, the air component of operation in multiple passes conducted air interdiction following human intelligence and confirmatory ISR on the movement and activities of suspected BH/ISWAP/JAS terrorists in Tumbun Fulani and Kirta Wulgo areas of Lake Chad Basin.
"The locations targets were acquired and engaged with rockets and bombs. Battle Damage Assessment revealed that several terrorists were neutralized along with their logistics.
