Nigeria Troops Kill 30 Terrorists, Rescue 338 Hostages

At least 30 Boko Ha­ram insurgents were killed on

Tuesday when soldiers of 28 Task Force Brigade, Nigerian Army, raided terrorist camps at Bulajilin and Manawashe villages along Bita and Danboa road, near Sambisa Forest, Borno State.

A statement from the De­fence Headquarters, Abuja yesterday said the unit also rescued 338 persons that were held captive by the terrorists in the enclaves. The rescued persons which comprised of eight males, 138 females and 192 children, have since been evacuated to Mubi. 

Troops also recovered arms and ammunition during the raid which include one General Purpose Machine Gun and two Dane guns, 150 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO), six boxes of 7.62mm (NATO) and three cutlasses.

Meanwhile, troops acting on a tip-off ambushed and killed four suspected terrorists on a suicide bombing mission to Gubula, Madag­ali Local Government Area of Adamawa State. Apart from two AK-47 rifles recovered, the soldiers also seized some Unexploded Ordinances (UXOs), mor­tar bombs and N153,385k cashed.

“It is worthy to note that the raid on the Boko Haram terrorists enclave coincided with the Chief of Army Staff’s operational visit to the Brigade Headquarters in Mubi,” it said..

In a related development, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has between July and this month conducted 1448 air sorties in support of the ongoing counter insurgency operation in the North-East. It also deployed over 300 ground troops from its spe­cial forces to fight along with the Army in the field.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Abubakar, disclosed this yesterday when he hosted officials of the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) led by the Executive Director, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas (retd) who visited him in his office. The Air Force, he said, is doing everything possible to see how peace can be restored in the troubled areas as soon as possible.

According to him, the air component is fully integrated in the operation plans and as such, NAF is using different aircraft including F-7NI, Alpha Jet, C-130 AC, Augusta 109 LUH, Mi-35, Mi-24, Mi-17, Supa Puma Helicopters, among others, to carryout logistics support, reconnaissance and combat operations.