*Major General John Enenche, the Coordinator of Defence Media Operations in Nigeria
As the Nigerian army intensifies its war against insurgency in the country, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday said 343 Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa or the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters have been killed by the military in counter – insurgency operations across Nigeria’s North-East region.
Major General John Enenche, the Coordinator of Defence Media Operations in Nigeria said at a news briefing in Abuja that another 153-armed bandit were also neutralised in parts of the North-West and North-Central. Northern Nigeria has posed the greatest security risk to Nigeria for over 15 years now and generally causing retardation in the growth of Nigeria’s economy, which ought to have been the biggest in Africa.
For years, most of the money made from crude oil have been deployed to fight Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen, Bandits, among other Islamist fundamentalists all from northern Nigeria. As if that is not enough, these insurgents have also been making several efforts to export violence to the East and West regions of Nigeria that are more educated and civilized. The military chief said the feats were recorded between March 18 and May 5 this year, adding that several captives had been rescued in the last four weeks. The coordinator stated that the troops equally destroyed several logistics installations and networks belonging to the terrorists well as arrested 16 of their high-profile informants.
In a related development, the Defense Head Quarters (DHQ) has also disclosed that the Nigerian Navy, during its counter operations in the maritime domain, recovered 4, 486 barrels and 1.786 million litres of crude oil. It said of the recoveries include 1,756,900 litres of AGO; 116,500 litres of DPK, and 11, 750 litres of petrol.
