Military raid Boko Haram hideouts
The Nigerian Military on Tuesday announced that no fewer than 8000 Boko Haram members had voluntarily surrendered to its “Operation Safe Corridor’’ in the North-East.
This was made known by the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, during a lecture titled “Media-Military Relationship in the Fight against Insurgency” organised by the FCT Correspondents’ Chapel of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) as part of activities marking its 2016 Press Week.
Abubakar, who said over 10,000 Boko Haram captives had been rescued by the military, added that the surrendered insurgents were in a camp in Gombe waiting to be “deradicalised”, Vanguard writes.
He reassured that Boko Haram had been successfully decimated by the military and that they would soon bring an end to the wanton destruction of lives and properties by armed Fulani herdsmen.
The Secretary of NUJ in FCT, Hajia Rafat Salami, agreed with Brig.-Gen Abubakar that the military and the media are partners in progress and must work together in the fight against terrorism and other crimes.
Meanwhile, the fight against insurgency yielded further results Tuesday as troops on clearance operations in the North-East rescued 88 people in Bama Local Government Area of Borno and killed three during an encounter.
A statement signed by the acting director, Army Public Relations, Col Sani Usman in Abuja, said 28 of those rescued claimed they escaped from Bula Musa village.
“They have been taken to Bama town for screening, profiling and possible handover to emergency management and humanitarian agencies,” Mr. Usman said.
“In Dikwa, the troops also recorded influx of 37 IDPs, comprising two men, 12 women, 12 boys and 11 girls from Gulumba Gana village which is about 45km astride Gulumba-Kumshe Road axis, Bama Local Government Area.
“They were screened by the troops and the Civilian JTF who, later handed them over to the Dikwa IDPs camp management for further registration and rehabilitation,” Mr. Usman said.
He said those deployed at the Nigeria-Cameroon border in conjunction with Civilian JTF also arrested two escaping Boko Haram terrorists named Mohammed Mundilga and Ahmed Ali.
Col. Usman added that the troops recovered one AK-45 rifle and three rounds of 7.62mm ammunition from the insurgents.