Troops Kill 75 BHTs, Recovers Six Gun Trucks, Destroys 3 Anti Aircraft Guns

… 1 Officer, 2 Soldiers Killed

From Sadiq Abubakar

Maiduguri

Sequel to the commencement of Operation FIRE BALL, a subsidiary operation under Operation LAFIYA DOLE which is meant to clear the remnants of the Boko Haram/ Islamic State  West Africa Province  terrorists from their identified enclaves in the North East region.

The Operation  which recorded  tremendous successes within the short period of  its existence with the last week  proceeding month proving to be the deadliest against the criminals neutralized some Boko Haram terrorists, recovered and destroyed some equipments and weapons as well as arms

Addressing Journalists on the successes recorded so far  at a press conference held at the  Army Super Camp Headquarters Ngamdu Tuesday , the  Acting  Director, Defence Media Operations, Brigadier General Benard  Onyeuko said  the troops in the various Sectors of the Theatre have continued to carry out their tasks relentlessly.

“The successes so far achieved wouldn’t have been possible without the sacrifice, commitment and gallantry exhibited by the well motivated troops some of whom have paid the supreme sacrifice.

“Within this period, the troops have carried out aggressive clearance operations, ambushes, robust day and night patrols in order to finally decimate the remnants of the Boko Haram/ISWAP criminals.

” Consequently, as a result of the aggressive offensive action carried out by the troops, several terrorists elements have been neutralized as large  number of their equipment were captured while some were equally destroyed in the process.

In this regard a total of 75 Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists were neutralized within this period.

” In terms of the criminals equipment 4 x  Gun Trucks, 1 x Bedford Truck, 3 x Anti Aircraft guns,were destroyed. The captured weapons include: 6 x Gun Trucks, 4 x Anti Aircraft guns, 1x PKT gun, 4 x General Purpose Machine Guns,1 x Automatic Grenade Launcher, 1 x Dushka Gun, 1 x Light Machine Gun, 48 x AK 47 Rifles, 1x Locally made Pistol and 10 x AK 47 magazines.

“Furthermore, large cache of ammunition were captured also. This include: 1 x 36 Hand Grenade, 567 rounds of 7.62mm Special ammunition, 448 rounds of 12.7mm  ammunition, 50 x Rocket Propelled Grenade bombs,

“17 locally manufactured rounds, 3 shells for making Improvised Explosive Device, 1 x Smoke Grenade and 2 x belts of PKT rounds. Other assorted non lethal items were also captured from the criminals,” Gen. Benard said.

The Defence Media Director added that,” Regrettably, one officer and 2 gallant soldiers paid the supreme price while 4 other soldiers were wounded in action over the period. However,  the wounded soldiers have since been evacuated to a military medical facility and are currently responding to treatment.”

“The troops of Operation FIRE BALL under Operation LAFIYA DOLE are hereby commended for their resilience, doggedness and commitment exhibited since the beginning of the Operation.

“They are equally encouraged not to rest on their oars but build on the successes recorded so far”, Gen. Onyeuko said.

He however assured te entire populace of the North East region  of the Nigerian military high command determination to finally root out the remnants of BHT/ISWAP criminals from their enclaves in the zone.

While commending the media for their coverage of military assignments, saying,” to you the members of the Press, I want to thank you most profoundly for your cooperation and commitment in covering our activities. You are well appreciated.”