The Nigerian Armed Forces on Thursday said that 392 bandits were killed in the Northwest and Northcentral parts of the country since the commencement of military operations more than three weeks ago.
On 17th May, President Muhammadu Buhari authorised the commencement of a major military operation to sweep bandits and kidnappers out of Katsina State. The operation later extended to other parts of the Northwest and Northcentral regions.
Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, told journalists in a media briefing that through land and air offensives successfully, the “gallant troops” not only “neutralized 392 bandits,” they also “seriously degraded the bandits and other criminal elements in the two zones.”
Stating that Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, ordered the commencement of Operation ACCORD from 1 June 2020, General Enenche noted that the operation, among others, was “preemptively planned by the High Command of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to handle this situation” of fleeing bandits.
The Defence Spokesperson regretted that bandits who escaped from the Katsina operations resorted to “reprisal attacks on civilian targets,” but added the new anti-banditry operation in the Northwest and Northcentral regions of the country would take care of bandits who escaped from the operations in Katsina State and resorted to attacking civilians.
Enenche explained: “Operation ACCORD is a joint operation involving the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies. It is a concomitant operation by all the theatres of operations in the North West and North Central regions of the Country targeted at tackling banditry and other criminal activities.
“In this regard, all identified hideouts and hibernations of the enemies will be decively cleared through land and air combat actions. This can easily be achieved through provision of credible information that can translate to actionable intelligence. Thus, the general public is hereby requested to avail the various operational out fits in their locations with this highly desirable information, to enable the Nigerian Military and other security agencies achieve the set objective.”
The Defence Spokesperson said that in the war against Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists in the Northeast, the Land and Air components of Operation LAFIYA DOLE achieved “significant feats” including “deletion of key BHT/ISWAP commanders, destruction of their logistics bases and cutting off their supply routes.”
In addition, General Enenche said, the terrorists’ “camps have been in disarray as a result of the killing of some of their key commanders through airstrikes and artillery bombardments on their identified locations. This is additional to the aggressive mobile clearance operations and air interdictions. Thus, the terrorists now carry out attacks in depleted strength on soft targets which is being effectively countered by the gallant troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE.”
He added that “the Military High Command congratulates all the gallant troops of Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force and personnel of other security agencies involved in various operations across the country. It equally appreciates the general public for providing credible information, that have so far facilitated the successes of these operations.
“Furthermore, it enjoins the public to be proactive in providing timely information by reporting suspicious movements and strangers within their locality to troops stationed in their areas. This is very necessary for enhancement of operational activities. The Armed Forces of Nigeria assures that these offensives against the common enemies of this Nation will not cease until normalcy is restored to all the troubled regions of the Country.”