The Nigerian Army,
Senator Iroegbu in Abuja
The Nigerian Army, despite minor setbacks, has made tremendous progress in the ongoing counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations against Boko Haram terrorists in parts of the North-east.
The Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman, in a statement yesterday, said a patrol team from 5 Brigade, traversing Dogon Gida and New Marte, on Friday, stepped on an undetected Improvised Explosive Device (IED) buried by suspected Boko Haram terrorists.
Unfortunately, Usman said, four soldiers sustained various degrees of injuries and their vehicle was badly damaged. He confirmed that the wounded soldiers have since been evacuated by Nigeria Air Force (NAF). Nevertheless, he added that the team has been reinforced and have continued their patrols until they fish out the perpetrators and neutralise them.
To buttress the collective resolve in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists between Nigeria and her neighbouring countries, Usman said troops of 25 and 26 Task Force Brigades in conjunction with Cameroonian forces carried out clearance operation against the Boko Haram terrorists around Ngoshe village.
He said: “While the Cameroonian troops carried out the clearance, their Nigerian counterparts provided blocking forces at strategic points where they decisively dealt with fleeing terrorists that tried to escape. Consequently, troops of 121 Task Force Battalion also advanced to Mararraba, Angwan Fada, Dale, Wizha, Bokko Timit, Bokko Nasanu, Bokko Hide, up to Ngoshe village where they linked up with the Cameroonians.”
According to Usman, all Boko Haram terrorists’ enclaves within the area were cleared during the operations, adding that “the troops killed 10 Boko Haram terrorists and also rescued 45 persons which included 17 women and 28 children”.
He said the troops also discovered that the terrorists cratered the road linking Pulka, Mararraba and Ngoshe and safely detonated five IEDs buried by the terrorists. In addition, he said, they also destroyed an IED manufacturing workshop in the village. They also cleared Sino village.
The Army Spokesman further disclosed that the Cameroonian forces have also knocked out Boko Haram terrorists gun trucks, raided and cleared several IED making factories along the border towns.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has debunked the report and statement credited to its Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Group Capt, Ayodele Famuyiwa, that the Service has located the position of the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists since April, 2014.
Famuyiwa yesterday clarified that the statement was a mis-representation of the interview that he gave the Channels Television that was aired on Friday, February 12.
“The NAF is hereby making it categorically clear that in the said interview the Director made mention of the NAF’s ability to identify possible location that the girls might be in”, he stated.
Hence, he said, the NAF categorically stated that it has at no time identified the specific location of the Chibok girls.
He however, noted that NAF “is working round the clock with surveillance aircraft covering the over 157,000 km2 area of the North East in order to identify the position of not only the Chibok girls but other Nigerians that might have been held captives”.
Towards the realisation of this goal, Famuyiwa said, the NAF has from January 2016 till date using aircraft, ISR platforms such as ATR-42, B-350 and CH-3 UAV flown surveillance missions totalling over 346 hours consuming about 85,887 litres of Jet A-1 and 3,830 litres of Mogas costing N15,337,862:50 and $19,150:00 respectively.
The NAF spokesperson said, “while the specific position of the Chibok girls is not yet ascertained by the NAF, we have not folded our arms on the surveillance flights and will continue to use these flights to degrade the capacity of the terrorists and as soon as possible locate the position of the Chibok girls and other Nigerians that are under captivity.”
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