The Defence Headquarters claimed on Friday that troops deployed to various theatres of operation killed 74 suspected terrorists last week.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Markus Kangye, disclosed this in Abuja while briefing journalists on ongoing military operations across the country.
He said the troops also apprehended 130 suspected criminals and rescued 61 hostages in operations that took place from March 5 to March 13 in the country.
Kangye added that the successful operations were jointly conducted by the land component of the Armed Forces with the Team from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), security agencies and hybrid forces.
According to the spokesman, the troops recovered 71 assorted weapons comprising 32 AK47 rifles, 15 locally fabricated guns, nine Dane guns, three pump action guns, two locally fabricated pistols and 10 other assorted arms in the operations.
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Other recovered items were 1,202 ammunition comprising 1,133 assorted rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and 69 live cartridges.
He said: “143 terrorists comprising five adult males, 66 adult females and 72 children surrendered to troops within the North-East theatre of operation within the week.
“One of the terrorists surrendered with two AK47 rifle, 33 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition and two magazines.
“The gallant men and women of the armed forces will continue to carry out their constitutional responsibilities of protecting lives and property of all Nigerians in line with our constitutional roles, Rules of Engagement and Code of Conduct for Internal Security Operations.”
