Troops of the Nigerian Army have in the last 48 hours carried out raids of various Boko Haram camps in Borno State, during which three insurgents were reportedly killed as soldiers rescued dozens of abducted civilians.
The clearance operations, which took place mostly in the northern flank of Borno, led to the recovery of over 300 vehicles, cache of arms and other terror enhancing devices.
The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, said in a statement on Thursday that the operations were carried out by troops of 26 Battalion, 151 Task Force Battalion, 155 Task Force Battalion and some elements of 21 Brigade of the Counterinsurgency Operation Lafiya Dole.
Usman, a colonel, said many camps were on Friday cleared in villages like Kircha Goniye, Wujjah Alkelu, Kita Jiddum, Jameri, Geri Gana, Gere Kura and Jabe were all purged.
The statement reads in part:
“Other villages cleared by the troops were Hasana Jere and Chachile. During the operation, own troops came in contact with elements of the terrorists group during which 2 of the terrorists were killed. The troops further recovered 5 Dane guns, 2 mobile telephone handsets, 3 Boko Haram terrorists’ flags and a Generator as well as several vehicles.
“In a related development, troops of 22 Brigade Garrison on blocking position also encountered a convoy of Boko Haram terrorists on motorcycles same day in which they killed 1 Boko Haram terrorist and recovered 3 motorcycles, 1 bag containing cash sum of Four Hundred and Sixty Six Thousand Naira (N466,000.00). In addition, the troops also rescued 8 abducted persons made up of 2 women, 2 female teenagers, 3 male children and a minor who unfortunately sustained injury and is receiving treatment at the unit’s medical facility.
“Information gathered from the rescued persons revealed that they were abducted from Ngoshe Bara village, Gwoza Local Government Area by the Boko Haram terrorists and taken to Sambisa forest in 2015 and married off to Boko Haram terrorists group fighters. They however relocated to Lake Chad general area prior to their rescue by troops. Interestingly, one of the women, Fatima Mohammed already a mother of 2 children, lamented that her husband, Mallam Mustapha, a retired District Court Judge in Gwoza, was killed by the terrorists before her abduction. The rescued persons are further being screened to further ascertain their status.
“As part of their contribution to the wellbeing of the Internally Displaced Persons, 22 Brigade Field Ambulance has been carrying out medical outreach at the Dikwa Internally Displaced Persons Camp in which quite a number of persons benefitted from the exercise where they were diagnosed and treated for various ailments most if which ranged from various degrees of body wounds to trauma.
“Some elements of Boko Haram elements made an attempt to attack 122 Task Force Battalion location at Yamteke from Galthani and Balangaje general area which successfully repelled as quite a number of the attackers were killed.
“Troops of 117 Task Force Battalion of 28 Task Force Brigade conveyed 40 Internally Displaced Persons from Madagali to Burnt Bricks IDP camp for proper rehabilitation after thorough screening and profiling.
“Similarly, early Wednesday morning troops of 114 Task Force Battalion, intercepted and rescued another 15 IDPs suspected to have come from Madube. The IDPs Comprised of 7 women and 8 children. All the rescued are being screened and profiled”.
