A statement by Colonel Timothy Antigha, the deputy director of public relations of the 8 division Nigerian army, revealed that the success was in continuation of Operation Deep Punch 2, designed to smoke out Boko Haram terrorists inhabiting remote islands in Lake Chad basin lying within Nigerian territory.
He said troops of the division on Operation Lafiya Dole, and supported by soldiers of the Armed Forces Strike Group (AFSG) inflicted heavy casualty on the terrorists and recovered weapons and vehicles abandoned by the insurgents.
“The operation which commenced about two weeks ago was proceeded by coordinated air and artillery bombardment of islands and localities occupied by terrorists, and from where they sneak into Magumeri, Kauram and other locations to loot property and attack security personnel and villagers.
“So far, 20 terrorists have been killed, captured 17 others, while over 100 elderly men, women and children have been rescued.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that a large number of the rescued persons were held against their will and forced to work in farms under life threatening conditions and penurious wages.
“More investigation and interviews will be conducted before the rescued persons are handed over for further action.
“The operation which is on-going has yielded handsomely as terrorists abandon vehicles, arms and ammunition, as well as assorted equipment when troops swooped on them. The troops also recovered 1Mercedes Benz Truck, 3 Toyota Land Cruiser gun trucks, 5 AK-47 riffles, 3 Fabrique Nationals (FN) riffles, 2 G3 riffles and 1 pump action riffle.
“Other items include 1 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) tube, two bombs, two Very High Frequency (VHF) radios and one night vision goggle.
pictures of recovered weapons and instruments
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