Army kills eight terrorists in North East, arrests notorious bandit in Kaduna

Suspected foreign herders in NSCDC net

Troops of 233, 151, and 202 Battalions of Operation Tura Taikaibango have killed eight terrorists in the Chindila and Mayankari axes of Borno and Yobe states of North-East Nigeria.

The soldiers also seized six AK-47 rifles and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)-making materials at Mayankari village.

Acting Director, Defence Media Operations ((DMO), Brig-Gen. Bernard Onyeuku, disclosed this yesterday while briefing journalists on military operations at the Special Army Super Camp 1, Ngamdu, Borno State.

According to him, the terrorists were neutralised at the Chindila and Mayankari hideouts of the Sambisa Forest.

“Our troops engaged the terrorists with the fierce volume of fire and neutralised five of them in the process,” he said, noting that some of them escaped with gunshot wounds.

IN a related development, troops of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) have arrested a suspected bandit identified as Shehu Musa in Kaduna.

The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said yesterday that the arrest was based on a tip-off, following investigations into December’s deadly attack in Gora Gan, Zangon Kataf Council, in which seven persons were killed, 13 houses burnt and several properties destroyed.

According to him, security operatives reported that the suspect was trailed to a hospital in a neighbouring state, where he was arrested while receiving treatment for gunshot wounds.

Expressing satisfaction at the report of the arrest, Aruwan said: “Governor Nasir el-Rufai, thanked security operatives for sustaining investigations, and urged them to pursue all relevant leads to closure.”

SIMILARLY, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kwara State Command, has arrested herders suspected to be non-Nigerians.

This is coming on the heels of the purported storming of some notable towns in Kwara South by herdsmen fleeing the South West.

The incident took place at Elsie, a sleepy town with a national monument.

Spokesman for Kwara NSCDC, Ayeni Olasunkanmi, while parading over 30 suspects said to be without any identity traceable to the state, noted that movement of strangers should put the citizens on red alert to forestall breakdown of law and order.

Sources said the herdsmen did not strike any semblance with herdsmen known to Nigerians, thus suggesting their foreign status.

Olasunkanmi said: “Today (Tuesday) officers of NSCDC, Kwara State Command, picked some persons suspected to have migrated to the state from the northern part of the country. They were all picked around Amoyo town in Kwara. As at the time of this report, none of these suspects has any known residence here in Kwara.”