How Troops Killed 392 Bandits in North West, Central–DMO
About 392 bandits terrorizing States in the North West and North Central parts of the country have been eliminated by troops deployed for the recently launched Operation Katsina, the Defence Media Operations (DMO) has said.
The DMO, in a press briefing at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Abuja, on Thursday, further said the bandits were neutralized by the troops through ‘fierce’ land and air offensives, since the commencement of Operation Katsina.
According to the Coordinator of DMO, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, who spoke at the briefing, the operation has seriously degraded the bandits and other criminal elements in the two zones.
“Consequently, those bandits that escaped resorted to reprisal attacks on civilian targets. However, Operation ACCORD was preemptively planned by the High Command of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to handle this situation,” he said.
In this regard, Enenche, said the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) ordered the commencement of Operation ACCORD from 1 June 2020.
He noted that Operation ACCORD is a joint operation involving the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies.
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His words: “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 DMO Coordinator, while noting that the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies have been on the offensive against terrorists in the North East, mainly through the land and air components of Operation LAFIYA DOLE, stated: “The significant feats achieved in this theatre include deletion of key BHT/ISWAP commanders, destruction of their logistics bases and cutting off their supply routes.
“Equally, their 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.”
