Buratai: Military kills 1,429 insurgents in 2 months, fight not yet over

The Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai, says the fight against Boko Haram insurgency is still ongoing.

He said this on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while addressing reporters on his two months’ sojourn in the theatre of war after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari.

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He said tremendous achievement had been recorded in the fight against insurgency in the northeast with the killing of 1,429 Boko Haram insurgents and the arrest of 116 of their associates.

Buratai, who returned to the headquarters in Abuja on Sunday, said Buhari was happy with the performance of the military when he briefed him on the operations in the northeast for the past two months.

He said the army would continue to deal with the security situation in the northeast and all other parts of the country.

He stated: “The fight is still ongoing and over 1,429 of this Boko Haram terrorists have been neutralised and we’ve arrested over 166 Boko Haram terrorists’ informants, their spies, couriers on logistics and their coordinators in the villages, the towns and even the forest.”

He said Buhari was impressed “with the performance of the troops in the northeast and the effort put in so far has paid off.”

Buratai lauded the efforts and loyalty of officers and men of the Nigerian Army, saying he would soon go back to be with them.

He said the morale of the troops in the trenches was very high at the moment as their loyalty and commitment was not in doubt.