Troops of the Nigerian military have neutralised 212 terrorists, apprehended 317 suspects and rescued 152 kidnapped hostages through a well-executed operation across the country in the last week.

DHQ spokesman Edward Buba said this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Mr Buba said that the troops were on high alert and had increased readiness to protect the country from further terrorist aggression, particularly during the yuletide.

”Accordingly, robust operations targeted at terrorist leadership are being conducted across the various theatres of operations.

”Significantly, a high-profile terrorist identified as Hamisu Sale (aka Master) and Abubakar Muhammad were arrested during separate operations conducted in the North Central theatre of operation,” he said.

According to him, the duo cooperates and provides valuable intelligence on the terror network.

He said that similarly, troops in the North-West theatre of operation arrested another high-profile and notorious terrorist identified as Bako Wurgi.

”Troops also arrested 45 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 152 kidnapped hostages,” he said.

He said that in the South-South, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of N1.19 billion.

Mr Buba said that the troops also recovered 247 assorted weapons and 6,174 assorted ammunition.

”The recovered weapons include two RPG UXO4s, 110 AK-47 rifles, 56 fabricated rifles, 36 Dane guns, two FN rifles, two Beretta pistols, 15 locally made pistols and two revolver pistols. Others are 12 pump-action guns, two double-barreled guns, one single-barreled gun, one RPG bomb, one RPG tube, two exploded RPG chargers, one PKM link, one link of GPMG and 70 AK-47 magazines.

”It also includes  3,235 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,583 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 130 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm ammo, 400 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, and 92 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo.

”Also recovered are 107 rounds of 9mm ammo, 311 live cartridges, one FN magazine, three bandoliers, five Baofeng radios, eight vehicles, and 103 mobile phones, amongst other items,” he said.

(NAN)