The Defence Headquarters (DHQ),says its troops have uncovered activities of extremists operating in their safe havens in Aku Forest in Okigwe Local Government of Imo State.
The DHQ accused the militants of slaughtering and feasting on their victims adding that own troops in their operations in the past one week killed 50 terrorists while 114 of them were arrested.
Director, Defence Media Operation (DMO), Major General Edward Buba, who briefed newsmen on Thursday at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja at the biweekly press briefing on troops operational activities across the country,said these extremist are cannibals.
“The military has identified several of these safe havens and operations are targeted towards ensuring that they are completely dismantled.
“One of the safe havens in Aku Forest in Okigwe LGA of Imo State in the South East was invaded. Troops found unspeakable and unprintable activities going on in the camp. These extremist are cannibals feasting on fellow humans and slaughtering them for other devilish acts.”, he said
According to him,among the central issues on the ground in terms of setting security conditions and overcoming instability are the “safe havens” of some of these violent extremist groups that have existed for many years.
These safe havens, he stated provides a support base for insurgent activities.
He added:”These safe havens provide the flow of funding, material, weapons, fighters, command and control that supports terrorism and insurgency confronting us.
“There are safe havens that spread across various theatres ranging from the tumbuns in the North East to other locations such as national parks, game reserves and forests across the country.”
He disclosed that operations of the last one week, resulted in “50 neutralized terrorists while 114 of them were arrested.
“Troops also arrested 19 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 49 kidnapped hostages. In the South South, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of N968,160,050.00 only.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 65 assorted weapons and 400 assorted ammunition. The breakdown are as follows: 25 AK47 rifles, 4 locally fabricated rifles, 4 pistols, 6 pump action guns, 12 dane guns, 3 AK47 rifles loaded with 50 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo among others.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 54 dugout pits, 66 boats, 138 storage tanks, 253 cooking ovens, 2 pumping machines, 8 speedboat, 17 hoses, 18 drums, 2 cylinders and 53 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 983,350 litres of stolen crude oil, 144,980 litres of illegally refined AGO and 71,650 litres of DPK
“It is clear that some of the the safe havens from which these insurgents and terrorists operate from often extend across the borders with other countries, thereby making it a regional issue. Nevertheless, the objective of ongoing operations is to ensure these safe havens are completely destroyed within the shores of the country.”
He assured that the military will continue to fine tune its operations to ensure maximum protection of citizens and restore security across the country.
He added:”We are getting it right and continue to encourage citizens that know something to say something, so that we can do something about it. Together we win the fight.
“The armed forces is constantly restrategizing and modifying its operations to overcome the changes in tactics of the extremist operating across the country.
“Accordingly, the ongoing counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations are designed to ensure that uncertainty is replaced with certainty.”
