Military commanders claim to have destroyed all of Boko Haram's known training camps

MILITARY commanders claim to have destroyed all of Boko Haram's military camps in northeastern Nigeria and are of the opinion that the terrorists no longer have the capacity to mount armed raids and seize territory.

 

Last year, Boko Haram mounted a successful military campaign across the northeast, capturing 14 local government areas in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States. However, the Nigerian military in conjunction with Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic launched a counter-attack after forming the Multi National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and have reclaimed back most of the territory.

 

All four countries are members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and are now putting finishing touches to the full deployment of the 8,700-strong force in eight operational sectors. Colonel Rabe Abubakar, Nigeria's director of defence information, said that the military has destroyed all known Boko Haram camps including its cells and command and control centres.

 

Col Abubakar said the terrorists had been defeated and weakened, assuring that they could no longer hold any territory in the north-east. He added that through advanced intelligence, there had been more precise aerial and ground bombardments of the terrorists’ camps, pointing out that their enclaves had been decimated and their members are now in disarray.

 

 “These terrorists have been subdued, even if they are adopting other means and as they are re-strategising, we are also doing the same and pre-empting them. We have coordinated the air and ground assaults to make sure that these terrorists' hideouts are completely decimated and as I am speaking to you, all the terrorists’ camps have completely been wiped out.

 

“So right now, they are completely in disarray, have no command and control of where to plan. We have even taken over their camps that most of them abandoned and are attempting to blend into towns and communities," Col Abubakar added.

 

He assured the public that very soon innocent Nigerians displaced by the insurgency would be able to move back to their communities. Yesterday, Nigeria's chief of army staff Lt General Tukur Buratai, led troops on a field inspection of the recaptured strategic town of Gamboru-Ngala in Borno State, crossing a bridge to Fatokol where a huge received them with cheers and emotional tears.

 

Col Abubakar added: “I am assuring you that they will never again recapture the territory taken from them because what is happening right now with the deployment of troops, equipment and morale will ensure that. As the mop-up operation and clearance of mines is intensified in the liberated areas, so also are necessary measures being put in place to ensure that safety and security prevail in those places.”

 

Lt General Buratai assured the crowd at Fatokol that with the support of President Muhammadu Buhari, the supply of new equipment and deployment of well-trained troops, Boko Haram atrocities would soon come to an end. So far, however, the military are yet to recover the kidnapped Chibok girls and no one is certain of the whereabouts of Boko Haram leader Sheikh Abubakar Shekau.