Hyacinth Chinweuba
The military has said that 392 criminals have been eliminated in an enhanced exercise against criminality in the country.
It said that in the North West and North Central parts of the Country, the army through land and air offensives successfully neutralized 392 bandits since the commencement of Operation KATSINA, which seriously degraded the bandits and other criminal elements in the two zones.
This morning, I will be briefing you on operations of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies across the Country, in line with our routine.
According to Major General John Enenche, Coordinator Defence Media Operations 4 June 2020 Defence Headquarters, various operations by the military have progressed successfully in all theatres of operations in the last one week.
In the North East, the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies have been on the offensive against the terrorists mainly through the Land and Air components of Operation LAFIYA DOLE.
The significant feats achieved in this theatre include deletion of key BHT/ISWAP commanders, destruction of their logistics bases and cutting off their supply routes.
Equally, their camps have been in disarray as a result of the killing of some of their key commanders through airstrikes and artillery bombardments on their identified locations.
This is additional to the aggressive mobile clearance operations and air interdictions.
Thus, the terrorists now carry out attacks in depleted strength on soft targets which is being effectively countered by the gallant troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE.
Consequently, those bandits that escaped resorted to reprisal attacks on civilian targets. However, Operation ACCORD was preemptively planned by the High Command of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to handle this situation.
In this regard, the Chief of Defence Staff ordered the commencement of Operation ACCORD from 1 June 2020.
“Let me state here that, Operation ACCORD is a joint operation involving the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies. It is a concomitant operation by all the theatres of operations in the North West and North Central regions of the Country targeted at tackling banditry and other criminal activities.
“In this regard, all identified hideouts and hibernations of the enemies will be decively cleared through land and air combat actions. This can easily be achieved through provision of credible information that can translate to actionable intelligence.” Enenche said.
The Coordinator urged the general public to avail the various operational outfits in their locations with this highly desirable information, to enable the Nigerian Military and other security agencies achieve the set objective.
“I am to also state that, the Military High Command congratulates all the gallant troops of Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force and personnel of other security agencies involved in various operations across the country. It equally appreciates the general public for providing credible information, that have so far facilitated the successes of these operations.”‘he said.
The military enjoined the public to be proactive in providing timely information by reporting suspicious movements and strangers within their locality to troops stationed in their areas. This is very necessary for enhancement of operational activities.
It assured that these offensives against the common enemies of this Nation will not cease until normalcy is restored to all the troubled regions of the Country.