The military has adjusted its operations to prioritise protection for farmers to ensure a successful rainy season farming.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, stated this on Friday in Abuja, adding that the Armed Forces was collecting intelligence collection with the intent to 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, adding that troops will increase firepower to eliminate terrorists and disrupt their activities in the country.
Buba said the troops had, in different operations, neutralised 220, apprehended 395 suspects and rescued 202 kidnapped hostages and recovered 432 assorted weapons and 9,004 assorted ammunition comprising three PKT guns, one G3 rifle, 83 AK47 rifles and 18 locally-fabricated guns in one week.
They also recovered 16 dane guns, 14 RPG bombs, one RPG launcher, two tear gas launchers, 234 smoke grenades and one bandolier 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.
He said in the North-East, Buba said, 83 terrorists were killed, 98 suspects arrested and rescued 61 hostages, adding that in the North-Central, 37 insurgents were killed, arrested 102 violent extremists and rescued 113 kidnapped hostages, he said.
In the North-West, troops 78 eliminated terrorists, arrested 103 terrorists and rescued 68 kidnapped hostages while in the Niger Delta area, they destroyed 105 illegal refining sites with 51 dugout pits, 38 boats and 51 storage tanks, 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.
“Troops also arrested 55 perpetrators of oil theft and denied the oil thieves an estimated sum of N1.8 billion,” he said, adding that 22 terrorists were killed, arrested 37 violent extremists, rescued 15 kidnapped hostages and also recovered a large cache of arms in south east.
