The Defence Headquarters says troops have neutralised about 50 terrorists and apprehended 114 in the last one week.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba who made this known at a media briefing said its next frontier in the fight against insecurity and other violent/extremist threats confronting the country is the dismantling and destruction of all safe havens used by criminal elements.
“These safe havens provide the flow of funding, material, weapons, fighters, command and control that supports terrorism and insurgency confronting us.
“As part of restrategizing and modifying its operations to overcome the changes in tactics of the extremist operating across the country, the central issues on the ground for the militaty, is overcoming instability from the safe havens of these violent extremist groups that have existed for many years.
“These safe haven’s in effect provided a support base for insurgent activities.
“The military has identified several of these safe havens and operations are targeted towards ensuring that they are completely dismantled.
“There are safe havens 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.
Gen Buba disclosed that, “Recently, one of the safe havens in Aku Forest in Okigwe LGA of Imo State in the South East was invaded” noting that, “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”.
“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.
“The military will continue to fine tune its operations to ensure maximum protection of citizens and restoration of security across the country. 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”.
