Troops of the Nigerian Armed Forces operating in the North West and the North Central theatres of operations have eliminated over 45 terrorists/bandits in both land and air operations in the last two weeks.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Bernard Onyeuko made this known at a bi-weekly news briefing of the Defence Headquarters on Thursday in Abuja.
In North Central, Onyeuko said the air component of Operation Whirl Punch carried out air strikes on terrorists loyal to a notorious terrorist, Alhaji Shanono, at Ukambo village in Kaduna State.
He said the air strike was carried out during the terrorists meeting on Aug. 8 based on credible intelligence.
According to him, the airstrike led to the killing of Shanono with 18 other terrorists, adding that 30 AK47 rifles and 20 motorcycles were destroyed in the attack.
Onyeuko said as a result of the operations, 45 kidnapped civilians were released.
Onyeuko further said that troops of Operation Whirl Stroke arrested some notorious criminals who had been on the wanted list of the theatre command.
He said Nathaniel Azege who had been terrorising Makurdi town was apprehended as well as Moses Aindigh (27) and Mr Iluyasu Mohammed (37) during the period.
