Army Loses 1 Officer, 2 Soldiers As Troops Clear 75 Terrorists In Northeast

Nigerian Defence Headquarters said one officer and two soldiers died during clearance operations by troops of Operation Fireball against Boko Haram  and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) between September and October, 2020.

Brig.-Gen. Benard Onyeuko, the Director, Defence Media Operations, said in a release that 75 terrorists were killed during the operations that were conducted around the dreaded Timbuktu triangle – Sambisa Forest, Mandara Mountains and the Lake Chad region.

Onyeuko stated that gun trucks and  anti-aircraft guns were retrieved from the terrorists during the operations that took place between September 28 and October 31, 2020.

He noted that the operation had recorded tremendous successes within the short period of its existence with the last week of the preceding month proving to be the deadliest against the terrorists.

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

“The troops in the various sectors of the theatre have continued to carry out their tasks relentlessly,” Onyeuko said.

“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,” he said.

In terms of the criminals’ equipment, he revealed that  four gun trucks,  one Bedford truck and three 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.

“These  include: 1 x 36 Hand Grenades, 567 rounds of 7.62mm Special ammunition, 448 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition, 50 x Rocket Propelled Grenade bombs, 17 locally manufactured rounds, three shells for making Improvised Explosive Device, 1 x Smoke Grenade and 2 x belts of PKT rounds,”  the spokesman said.