The Commander of the military operation aimed at combating militant activities in the Niger Delta region, code-named “Operation Delta Safe” force has deployed reinforcement team to apprehend suspected militants that killed three members of the Joint Task Force on Monday Morning.

The three naval personnel were reportedly killed in Nembe, a riverine area of Bayelsa State, by persons suspected to be militants who were disguised as mourners coming from a burial.

A statement by A. Ahmed, a lieutenant commander and spokesman for the military, said the officers came under attack at a checkpoint mounted by the Nembe waterway checkpoint.

“The commander of Operation Delta Safe, Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie, has consequently deployed reinforcement team to apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous crime,” the statement read.

Okojie further warned that henceforth, Operation Delta Safe would go on offensive to fish out criminals in the region.

The military spokesman said the attack will not deter the ongoing Operation Delta Safe aimed at flushing out all forms of criminality especially pipeline vandalism and destruction of illegal refinery within the region.

Ahmed assured law abiding citizens of Nembe community that Operation Delta Safe was mandated to ensure conducive and safe water ways for legitimate business in the Joint Operation Areas.

Militancy has increased in the oil-rich region in the last five months with several oil installations attacked, a situation the Nigerian government said had made worse Nigeria’s poor power supply situation.

Nigeria’s revenue, largely generated from the sale of crude oil, has decreased in recent months as a result of renewed militant activities in the Niger Delta.