The Defence Headquarters says the military has continued to target the leadership and chains of command of the terrorists, insurgents and extremist groups undermining the country’s security.

This is contained in a statement by the Director Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, on Friday in Abuja.

Mr Buba said the ongoing counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations across the country were yielding encouraging results.

He said the operations of the last one week had resulted in eliminating over 50 terrorists and arresting 122 of them in different operations across the country.

According to him, the troops also arrested 49 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 182 kidnap victims.

He added that the troops recovered 66 assorted weapons and 11,474 assorted ammunition, comprising one conqueror APC, one GPMG, one NSVT gun, one GT3 rifle, 25 AK47 rifles, four pump action guns and two locally made AK47 rifles.

“Items recovered also include three locally made guns, one locally made revolver gun, four locally fabricated pistols and four long dane guns, two locally made hand grenades and one bandolier.

“Others are 574 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 640 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 150 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, five rounds of 9mm ammo, 10,520 live cartridges and five vehicles, 27 mobile phones.

“Others are 12 motorcycles, three baofeng radios, one Motorola HHR, three bicycles, one solar panel, one solar charger controller, one radio receiver and N75.9 million among other items.

In the North-East, Mr Buba said the troops of Operation Hadin Kai neutralised 33 terrorists, apprehended 13 and rescued 132 kidnapped hostages and recovered a cache of arms within the week.

In the North-Central, he said the troops of Operation Safe Haven neutralised 20 terrorists, apprehended 34 and rescued 10 kidnap victims with recovery of a different calibre and arms and ammunition.

Mr Buba further said that the troops of Operation Whirl Stroke neutralised a terrorist, arrested nine terrorists and rescued eight kidnap victims during the week.

In the North-West, the defence spokesman said the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralised 20 terrorists, arrested 48 terrorists and rescued 56 kidnap victims and recovered several weapons.

According to him, the air component on November 11 acquired and subsequently conducted air interdiction on the enclave of a terrorist leader identified as ‘Damina’ in the Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

“Also, troops of Operation Whirl Punch neutralised four terrorists, arrested eight suspected terrorists and rescued nine kidnap victims and recovered arms and N75 million,” he said.

In the Niger-Delta region, Mr Buba said the troops of Operation Delta Safe destroyed 242 dugout pits, 49 boats, 78 storage tanks, one tricycle, 21 vehicles, 104 cooking ovens, three pumping machines, seven outboard engines and 49 illegal refining sites.

He added that the troops recovered 151,850 litres of stolen crude oil, 48,630 litres of illegally refined AGO and 10,125 litres of DPK.

He noted, “The armed forces will continue to apply strong military pressure such as has been witnessed in the week. The terrorist and their cohorts would continue to suffer heavy casualties and it is in their interest to surrender as being done in the North-East to avoid eventual destruction.’’

(NAN)