By: Zagazola Makama
The troops of 21 Armoured Brigade Brigade, Operation Hadin Kai of the Nigerian Army have recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from the Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP) insurgents in Sambisa Forest, in Borno State.
It was gathered that the troops discovered the massive armoury with arms and ammunition when they invaded Ukuba camp in the fringes of Bama Local Government area, as part of ongoing counter terrorists Operation Desert Sanity II on May 13, 2023.
This is coming nearly two weeks after the troops raided the same camp and recovered six anti-aircraft guns, four Ak 47 rifles, several quantities of IEDs making materials, a cache of magazines, and a Hilux vehicle mounted with an Anti Aircraft Gun.
Intelligence Sources told Zagazola Makama, a Counter-Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad region that the large quantities of weapons was discovered in hidden dug pits concealed by the terrorists group.
The sources said that this time, several variants of Rocket Propelled Grenade Tubes, SMG Rifle, Double Barrel gun, 50 hand grenades bombs, 5 SMK bombs among others were recovered.
Others included; 183 Shilka rounds, several IEDs making materials, Non electric detonators, many already prepared IEDs, as well as several canister bombs.
The sources said that as the troops were withdrawing from the general area, one terrorist was seen and naturalized while one Ak47 rifle and other items were recovered from him.
The sources said that the troops successfully evacuated the arms from the scene after clearing the general area, noting that the troops morale and fighting spirit have been further boosted by the outcome of the operations so far.
The troops Operation DESERT – LAKE – MOUNTAIN II which commenced on 27 Apr 23, in the axis of the Sambisa-Timbuktu Triangle and the shores of the Lake Chad are making steady inroads as ground and backed by air support continue to sustained pressures on the terrorists, killing scores of them while many others were forced to flee.
Some of the terrorist hideouts that were cleared recently included Garno, Alafa, Alafa D, Garin Doctor, Njumia, Izzah, Farisu, Somalia, Ukuba, Garin Glucose, Garin Ba’aba and Bula Abu Amir.
The Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists have now resorted to desperate but extreme measures to fight back against the crushing intrusion of their enclaves by heightenening series of PBIED, VBIED and RSBIED attacks.
