Troops of Operation Lafiya Dole have cleared Improvised Explosive Devices buried along major roads supposedly by members of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
Army spokesman, Sani Usman, in a statement on Sunday said that the incident occurred when the convoy of the Chief of Army Administration, I.M. Alkali and the Acting General Officer Commanding 7 Division Nigerian Army, V.O. Ezugwu, was passing along the road on Saturday morning.
The statement explained that “the two senior officers were on operational visit to troops of 26 Task Force Brigade deployed for Operation LAFIYA DOLE currently engaged in Operation DEEP PUNCH.”
‘Operation Deep Punch’ is a new phase of the counter insurgency operation aimed at clearing the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists that were scattered in different axis of the North East after the fall of Sambisa Forest.
The statement further read: “They encountered the 4 clustered IEDs buried at a crossing point along Banki Junction and Pulka road, about 6 kilometres to Firgi in Borno State,” Usman stated.
“The Explosive Ordinance Device team however, were able to quickly detect the deadly IEDs and safely extracted and detonated them.”
The team continued on their journey, visiting among other places the 112 Task Force Battalion Pulka.
Recall that the Nigerian Military had on Christmas eve 2016 announced the capture of Sambisa Forest, which is the former stronghold of the Boko Haram terrorists.
The vast forest has since been converted to an army base where the 2017 Nigerian Army Small Arms Championship was held in Mach.
However, despite the capture of Sambisa, Boko Haram fighters had continued to spring surprise attacks on different areas in Borno State, either through suicide bombings or through ambushes.
But the army insists that the terrorist group has been largely decimated and that the end of the insurgency is in sight.