From Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Defence headquarters yesterday said soldiers on counter insurgency and other internal security operations across the country killed 109 terrorists, bandits and other criminals in the last two weeks. The DHQ, also said another batch of 1,199, terrorists and their family members comprising 114 males, 312 females and 773 children surrendered to troops at different locations in the North East.
Acting Director Defence Media Operations Brigadier General Bernard Onyeuko, at a media briefing, said the troops also recovered 166 bags of Improvised Explosives Device(IED), making materials, 197 weapons, gun trucks, 1,161 rounds of ammunitions and rescued 25 kidnapped persons.
Onyeuko said over 40 terrorists, bandits and their informants were also arrested and undergoing interrogation.
Giving a breakdown of the operations, Onyeuko said: “Troops of Operation HADIN KAI have sustained the aggressive posture with zest in the North East. The Theatre Command conducted series of land and air operations in different locations have not only degraded the enemy’s operational capabilities of insurgents, but have contributed to more terrorists surrendering with their families. In the course of the operations within the period, a total of 38 terrorist elements were neutralized, including the ISWAP’s new leader, Bako. Also, a total of 11 criminal elements including terrorists and their informants and their logistics suppliers were arrested in the course of these operations.