By Olayemi Esan
Terrorists Members of the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, now plant Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, on highways and operational routes in the North East.
The terrorists, according to a report by PpppppR Nigeria, devised the new means of operations to frustrate the advancing of ground troops.
Troops succeeded in diffusing some of the landmines during their operations, however, many innocent travellers have been killed, mostly from locally-manufactured IEDs.
Notorious areas where terrorists plant IEDs are Maiduguri, Damboa, Biu, Bama, Banki, Gwoza, Buni Yadi, Malam Fatori and Kukawa, among others.
Military sources said that it takes a long time for troops to defuse landmines with sweepers.
“Military movements that should take minutes, for instance, takes several hours and sometimes days in scanning and rescanning the environment for IEDs, so as to ensure the safety of troops,” a source said.
Recently, the Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Maj.-Gen. Christopher Musa identified the detection and defusing of IEDs as a major challenge in the fight against insurgency in the region.
He insisted that “troops must scan areas where it is conducting patrols before going for any operation, and scan again while returning.”
Source: SaharaReporters/PRNigeria
