Troops neutralize 52 terrorists, apprehends ISWAP commander in Bauchi – DHQ

According to the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), forces from the Nigerian military and operatives from the Department of State Services (DSS) killed 52 terrorists and apprehended the head of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in Bauchi State.

According to the DHQ, the ISWAP leader was apprehended during a sting operation in Tarum, a village outside Bauchi Metropolis.

Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations, announced this in a statement on Friday.

Although the name was not revealed, the apprehended ISWAP leader was in charge of the North Central and North West zones, according to the DHQ.

The arrest of the ISWAP chief was part of forces’ attempts to “target the leadership of terrorist groups to ensure they pose no further threat to the safety and security of citizens,” according to the military high command.

Buba stated that continuing military operations around the country have continued to devastate and degrade the combat capacity of terrorists and other criminal elements.

“The leadership of these groups remain the prime targets of ongoing operations. Accordingly, the armed forces remain determined to destroy the terrorists, insurgents and violent extremist groups in the Country and degrade their military capability,” he noted.

The defence spokesperson said airstrikes by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft sestroyed several enclaves of terrorist leaders in the North West and North Central zones in the past week.

Buba said:

“The operations of the week in focus resulted in 52 neutralized terrorists, while 204 of them were arrested.

“Troops also arrested 58 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 234 kidnapped hostages.

“In the South-South zone, troops recovered 267,700 litres of stolen crude oil, 567,700 litres of illegally refined diesel and 5,000 litres of kerosene.

“Troops destroyed seven dugout pits, 25 boats, 47 storage tanks, five vehicles, 141 cooking ovens, one pumping machine, one outboard engine, one tricycle, one speedboat, one tugboat and 51 illegal refining sites.”

He went on to say that the troops found 46 different weapons and 148 different rounds of ammunition, including 30 AK-47 rifles, two Josef magnum pump action guns, one double barrel gun, two single barrel guns, 12 locally made pistols, 13 Dane guns, one hand grenade, nine locally made rifles, three RPG chargers, and two locally made hand grenades.

According to Buba, other things recovered include 120 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 364 rounds of 7.62mm special munitions, 54 live cartridges, 11 rounds of empty 7.62mm special ammo cases, 32 magazines, 34 automobiles, 64 mobile phones, 47 motorcycles, and N1,582,690.00.