The Defence Headquarters says, the military will not allow the passing of Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Taoreed Lagbaja to derail troops focus to destroy the terrorists in various theatres of operations.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba said this at the biweekly press briefing with Defence Correspondents in Abuja on the ongoing operations of troops im theatres for the month of October and first week of November 2024.
Major General Buba affirmed that the military rather inspired by his actions on the battlefield as a war commander as well as his strong desire to defeat the terrorist in order to end the war.
He noted that instead, the demise will spur soldiers in the ongoing operations to finally crush the insurgents and their cohorts and bring them to.their knees.
“On the whole, even as the armed forces mourn the tragic passing away of the COAS, Lt Gen TA Lagbaja. We will not allow his passing to derail our focus to destroy the terrorists. We are rather inspired by his actions on the battlefield as a war commander as well as his strong desire to defeat the terrorist in order to end the war.
Accordingly, the military will continue work decisively to kill the terrorists, stop the insecurity in the nation and ensure the safety of citizens. The armed forces remains in a good and strong position in this war, and will win this war.", he said
He noted that troops have done a tremendous job of significantly dismantling the terror groups across the country, in various theatres of operations. Our strategy remains to undermine the ability of these terror groups and their cohorts.
Giving update on Major successes, General Buba said "It is noteworthy, to state that, in October 2024, troops neutralized 481 terrorists. Other details are that, troops arrested 741 persons including terrorist. Troops also rescued 492 kidnapped hostages.
"Troops recovered 480 weapons and 9,026 assorted ammunitions. Whilst they denied the oil theft of an estimated sum of close to #4 bn (N3,896,400.960.00) only.
"Breakdown for the month of October includes and is not limited to the following: 263 AK47 rifles, 81 locally fabricated guns, 91 dane guns, 76 pump action guns, 5,683 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,944 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 642 cartridges, 160 assorted arms and 1,526 assorted ammunitions. Others are 3,226,645 litres of stolen crude oil, 763,860 litres of illegally refined AGO and 12,690 litres of PMS amongst other item.
He added that Troops conducted simultaneous strikes on several terrorist enclaves and hideouts across the country. The Airforce carried out bombardments and air interdiction on these terrorist hideouts and enclaves with precision, thereby diminishing the fighting capabilities of these terrorist.