A Boko Haram commander in the North-East, Saleh Mustapha, has reportedly surrendered to troops of Operation Hadin Kai, during one of the military recent operations to flush out terrorists from the region.
Bernard Onyeuko, the director of Defence media operations at Defence Headquarters (DHQ), confirmed the capture of the Boko Haram Commander on Thursday in Abuja.
As of April 5, a total of 51,114 militants and families, consisting of 11,398 men, 15,381 women, and 24,335 children, had surrendered to forces, according to the Defence spokesman
Onyeuko noted that the military also killed a large number of insurgents, captured 22 spies, 11 bandits, and three logistics suppliers, and rescued 30 people throughout the period.
All surrendering terrorists were documented, he said, while captured insurgents, rescued civilians, and seized objects were turned over to the proper authorities for future action.
According to him, troops have recovered one battle tank, five artillery weapons, two GTS, and three AA guns from militants in the last two weeks.
He said; “Others are those who resisted ambush protected (MRAP) vehicle, three gun trucks, One MOWAG armoured personnel carrier and two RPG tubes,” he said.
“Three RPG rockets, three RPG bombs, one NSVT gun, two GPMG, one light MG, one PKM, three GPMG belts and four belts of PKT rounds.
“Also recovered are 600 7.62mm NATO rounds, 16 AK 47 rifles, one dane gun, 270 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, one Toyota Buffalo vehicle, one Golf saloon car, four motorcycles, six magazines, two pairs of camouflage, two terrorists’ flags, one tricycle and one active drone.”
Between March 28 and March 31, Onyeuko said, the air component conducted air interdictions near Bukar Meiram and 2 kilometres south of Kollaram, removing a large stockpile of ISWAP weaponry from their bases.
“The land component with the support of the air component conducted offensive operations at different locations of the theatre such as Ukuba/Camp Zairo, Sabil Huda, Ba Masaa, Wulgo, Marta,fulatari village, Uraha Crossing Point, Mbalala, Gamboru town all in Borno.
“Notably, among the exploits of our troops was the capture of the terrorists’ stronghold by Ukba/Camp Zairo in the Sambisa forest where some artillery guns, armored personnel carriers, trailers and large cache of arms and ammunition were captured.
“Troops also destroyed terrorist enclaves, captured some terrorists, destroyed terrorist’s improvised explosive making factory,” he added.