The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has disclosed that Nigerian military troops fighting the counter insurgency war and other internal security operations across the country, killed 156 terrorists and arrested 464 others in the past one week alone.
The troops also arrested 29 suspected oil thieves, recovered stolen products worth over N600 million and rescued 181 kidnapped hostages.
Outgoing Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, made this known at the media briefing on military operations conducted across the country in the last one week.
Buba also disclosed that within the period under review, troops recovered 219 assorted weapons and 2,871 assorted ammunition.
He listed the recovered weapons to include one GPMG, 68 AK47 rifles, one AK56 rifle, 12 fabricated rifles, four FN rifles, four dane guns, seven pump action guns, one foreign double barrel gun, nine fabricated IEDs, 18 FN grenades, six RPG bombs, 27 magazines, four IEDs and making materials.
Other items recovered during the period include 1,618 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 676 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 16 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm ammo, 68 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 317 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 73 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, 175 rounds of PKT ammo, one box of 12.7mm ammo, 25 live cartridges, one baofeng radio, 10 vehicles, 42 motorcycles, 29 mobile phones, amongst other item.
On military operations against oil theft in the Niger delta, Buba, said “troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 46 illegal refining sites, 48 crude oil cooking ovens, 10 dugout pits, and 56 storage tanks.”
“Furthermore, troops also recovered 705,294 litres of stolen crude oil, 6,865 litres of illegally refined AGO, 1,500 litres of DPK and 800 litres of PMS.
Other items recovered in the area include 28 boats, eight pumping machines, six speedboats, three outboard engines, six drums, eight motorcycles, one mobile phone and eight vehicles,” he stressed.
