Nigeria military kills 28 terrorists in Borno, recovers arms

Abuja

In a counter attack on extremists, the Nigerian army has swooped on a contingent of members of the Islamic State in West Africa Province (Iswap) in Northeast Borno State, killing 28 of them.

This now brings to 103 the number of terrorists killed in three days. 

At least 73 Boko Haram and Iswap terrorists were killed in various proactive operations in the north east, the epicentre of the insurgency.

In the operation which took place early on Saturday, June 3, between Jakana and Auno along the Damaturu-Maiduguri highway in the embattled Borno state, three trucks and arms were recovered from the Iswap fighters.

The fighters were reported to have attacked a contingent of police officers along the highway and made away with their Toyota Hilux van. But the truck and two others belonging to Iswap were later recovered when a military air force backed by ground troops attacked the insurgents.

Police officer killed

The terrorists, dressed in army uniforms, ambushed and opened fire on the Mobile Police Force that was returning from Buni Yadi, killing one of the policemen and seizing their vehicle. 

A statement issued on Sunday by the military said that its air component and ground troops, including the MI-35M gunship, were deployed after a distress call on the incident.

The defence headquarters on July 2 reported that Operation Hadin Kai troops had killed 73 terrorists.

The acting director of Defence Media Operation, Brig-Gen Bernard Onyeuko, said that the troops also recovered a large cache of arms and equipment from the terrorists in different encounters during the period.

Recovered firearms

He said 44 AK-47 rifles, two PKT (a vehicle machine gun), seven anti-aircraft guns, seven gun trucks, several ammunitions of different calibre as well as weapon cleaning materials were recovered.

Other items recovered were blankets, foodstuffs, vehicles, generators, IED materials and religious scripts, he said.

“During air operations, the spiritual base and training camps of the terrorists in the north east part of Borno State and the fringes of Lake Chad were destroyed by air bombardments.

“These came on the heels of credible intelligence report which revealed that, some top Iswap/BHT commanders were holding a meeting at the said locations.

“Consequently, the air component mobilised with force packages of NAF platforms and launched attacks on the locations.”

He added that on June 27, 2021, the troops also received 55 escapees from terrorist camps. They were 15 adult males, 12 adult females and 27 children who surrendered to the military at Darajemel in Borno.

Praised army

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Bashir Magashi has praised the army and reiterated the commitment of the military to the national territorial defence against the forces fuelling insecurity.

Magashi, who hosted Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria Nicholas Simard on July 1 lauded the decades of military bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and Canada.

He said the ties progressively and sustainably culminated into the formation of the bi-national commission in April 2012.

Mr Simard described Nigeria as a strategic partner with Canada, especially in combating insecurity.