THE Nigeria Military on Friday, December 2,said it has killed 180 terrorists and arrested 204 within seven days.
The Director of Defence Media Operations (DDMO), Edward Buba, disclosed this in a statement he signed on behalf of the Nigerian Military.
According to the statement, the military rescued 234 victims in the week-long operations.
The military said the operations occurred in multiple theatres and involved air and land interdictions.
In describing the results, Buba said that 46 different types of firearms and 148 different types of ammunition were found.
These included two pump-action Josef Magnum rifles, one double-barrel gun, two single-barrel guns, and thirty AK47 rifles.
In addition, he said twelve handguns manufactured locally, thirteen Dane guns, one hand grenade, nine rifles built locally, three RPG chargers, and two hand grenades created locally were taken into custody.
In addition, the military recovered N1.5 million along with 34 vehicles, 64 cell phones, 47 motorcycles, 120 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 364 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 54 live cartridges, and 11 rounds of empty cases of 7.62mm special munitions.
According to Buba, during the week, the soldiers of Operation Hadin Kai killed 19 terrorists, detained 52 others, and freed 134 captives who had been kidnapped in the Northeast.
According to the Director of Defence media operations, kidnappers and illegal miners were apprehended by the military during fighting patrols in Yobe’s Gulani Local Government Area. In Borno’s Monguno, Mafa, and Gwoza Local Government Areas, they also found and detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
In Borno State, the military said troops eliminated alleged ISWAP/JAS terrorists in the Madagali, Adamawa, and Maiduguri Municipal Council regions.
Buba claimed that between November 22 and November 28, 91 terrorists turned themselves into the military. This group consisted of thirty-five adults, thirteen adults, and forty-three children.
Data collated by The ICIR have shown that between January and October 2023, 7,046 people were killed in violent attacks across Nigeria.
The ICIR data was obtained from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a data bureau that collects real-time data on the locations, dates, actors, fatalities, and types of all reported political violence and protest events worldwide.
When broken down, this means that an average of 24 persons were killed daily within the month under review.
Insecurity has been a perennial challenge in Nigeria, ranging from attacks by bandits and secessionist groups to attacks by insurgent groups like Boko Haram/Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) and clashes between herdsmen and villagers, among others.
The ACLED documents that 15 people were killed in protests within ten months. Also, 133 people died in several riot attacks between January and October.
According to the data, the states with the highest killings within the ten months are Zamfara (672 deaths), Niger (544 deaths), Benue (454 deaths) and Plateau (362 deaths).
The states with the lowest reported cases of death are Ekiti, Gombe, and Jigawa, with five, three, and two deaths, respectively.
The data means that living in Jigawa state within the first ten months of 2023 is safer than any other state in Nigeria.
When broken down by geopolitical zone, states in the North-Central reported 1,589 deaths, the North-East reported 2,691 deaths, and the North-West region had 1,767 casualties.
For the Sothern region, the South-East recorded 450 deaths, the South-South recorded 333 deaths, and the Sout-West lost 216 people to attacks.
In September, the Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, said, during the Nigerian Army civil-military cooperation media chat for the third quarter of 2023, that the Nigerian Army would curb the security challenges currently facing the country.
A reporter with the ICIR
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