Air Force troops have destroyed three gun trucks belonging to the members of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists while they were crossing Damaturu-Maiduguri road in order to wreck havoc on innocent citizens.
Briefing journalists at Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday on the activities of troops within the last two weeks, the Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, Brig Benard Onyeuko, stated that the troops neutralised all occupants in the gun trucks.
Onyeuko explained that the Air Force troops, who carried out the operations using NAF Mi-35 helicopters, acted upon receiving a distress call and ensure that all the terrorists’ weapons were recovered during the mop-up operation.
He said, “On 2 July 2021 some elements of BHT/ISWAP terrorist crossing Damaturu – Maiduguri Road in 3 Gun trucks attacked innocent civilians along their path. After receiving a distress call on the incident a NAF Mi-35 helicopter was dispatched to the location and engaged terrorists.
“The 3 Gun trucks were destroyed with most of its occupants, other fleeing terrorists were neutralized by the ground troops during mop-up operation and recovered some weapons as well.”
The military high command, however, acknowledged that it had lost some of its personnel to battles at the various theatres of operations across the country in the last two weeks, saying their death was not in vain, as it has brought about relative calm in most of the theatres since the last two weeks till date.
The DMO spokesman added, “While the security situation in some locations remained peaceful and calm, some other areas recorded some incidents within the period.
“Gentlemen of the press, gleaning from the updates from the various theatres of operations as I have highlighted, there is no gainsaying there is a relative reduction in the spate of incidents in the various theatres of operations.
“However, in the course of these operations, some of our troops paid the supreme price and some others sustained varying degrees of injuries.”
