The Defence Headquarters says that troops have neutralised 106 terrorists and arrested 103 in different operations nationwide in the last one week.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, said this while giving an update on the operations in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Buba said the troops also apprehended 22 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 96 kidnap victims.

He added that troops recovered 171 assorted weapons and 2,452 rounds of ammunition during the operations.

“The breakdown comprised 47 AK47 rifles, one PKT gun, 18 pump action rifles, 17 locally fabricated guns, 14 Dane guns, 12 locally fabricated pistols, one fabricated revolver, one hand grenade, 81mm mortar bomb, one mortar tube and four bandoliers

“Others are 995 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 468 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 317 live cartridges, 125 rounds of 9mm ammo, 313 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 13 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm, 19 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm, 167 empty shells of 7.62mm special ammo, 45 empty shells of 7.62mm NATO and 72 empty cases of cartridges.

“They also include 14 magazines, 10 vehicles, 23 motorcycles, 19 mobile phones, one bicycle, four baofeng radios, and the sum of N112,920, amongst other items,” he said.

In the North East, Buba said the troops of Operation Hadin Kai, neutralised 38 Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, rescued 16 kidnapped hostages and recovered several arms and ammunition, amongst others during the week.

He said that a total of 46 terrorists, comprising eight adult males, 14 adult females and 24 children, surrendered to troops, between March 13 and Mar 19, within the theatre of operations.

In the North Central, Buba said the troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke eliminated seven violent extremists, apprehended 27, rescued eight kidnapped hostages and recovered a large cache of weapons.

In the North West, he said the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralised 31 terrorists, arrested 13 others rescued 56 kidnapped hostages and recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition.

He added that troops of Operation Whirl Punch apprehended nine violent extremists/terrorists and rescued 19 kidnap victims within the week.

Buba said the troops of Operation Delta Safe in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 40 illegal refining sites with 51 dugout pits, 17 boats, 21 cooking ovens, three pumping machines, 15 storage tanks and four vehicles.

He added that the troops also recovered 772,350 litres of stolen crude oil, 80,530 litres of illegally refined AGO and 1,500 litres of DPK within the week.

In the South East, Buba said the troops of Operation UDO KA uncovered and destroyed the IED factory in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra.

He added that troops had rescued five kidnap victims in Enugu North Land and recovered one vehicle.

Meanwhile, about 16 operatives of the Nigerian Army were recently ambushed and killed in Delta State.

The fallen soldiers, serving with the 181 Amphibious Battalion, were on a peacekeeping mission to quell community clashes in Bomadi Local Government of Delta State when the incident occurred.

(NAN)