How Breaching Camp Officials Led to Abduction of 112 IDPs – Military
The Military High Command stated on Thursday that the 112 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) recently abducted by terrorists in Borno reportedly ventured beyond the designated area from their camp without notifying camp officials.
The military further declared bandits and kidnappers as terrorists, and they will be treated accordingly. This decisive action, according to the military, is leading to the defeat of several terrorist groups across the country to ensure they can no longer terrorize or hurt citizens.
Major General Edward Buba, the Director of Defence Media Operations, disclosed this at the bi-weekly press briefing on ongoing military operations in Abuja.
Maj. Gen. Buba while giving details of the three major abduction by the terrorist groups recently, said the late reporting of the incident affected troops response time in the ongoing search and rescue effort.
He said that troops, also on March 3, received information from the Coordinator of Borno State Emergency Management Agency about suspected abduction of an unknown number of IDPs in Gamboru Ngala Local Government Area of Borno.
He said preliminary investigation revealed that IDPs left camp to undisclosed location to fetch firewood beyond the permissible distance. They reportedly did not notify the camp authorities of their movement. It was later, at about 2030hrs at night, when the IDPs did not return to camp that alarm was raised as to their possible abduction by terrorists.
It was at that stage that troops were notified of the incident. The standard practice was for troops to be notified prior to any movement of IDPs beyond the permissible distance of 5-7 kms from their camp. He IDPs reportedly went beyond the permissible distance to get firewood as a result of deforestation around their camp. The terrorist abducted 112 IDPs in the process. Nevertheless, effort is ongoing to get back the hostages.
He said another abduction case was on 7 March 2024, troops received information that terrorists had invaded LEA School in Chikun LG of Kaduna State and abducted unconfirmed number of pupils.
The incident was not reported until several hours after its occurrence. The delayed reporting of the incident adversely affected troop response time in the ongoing search and rescue effort.
Similarly, on March 9, 2024, terrorists invaded and kidnapped 16 pupils (Almajiris) with a woman in Gada LGA of Sokoto State.
According to him, “These abduction cases were carried out due to cowardice exhibited by terrorists going for such soft targets to impede troop advances.
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“I assure you that we will not rest until they are returned because, in recent times troops have decimated several of the terrorist leaders, commanders, and foot soldiers and fast-closed and several others.”
He further noted that troops have deployed tsearch and rescue operations in for their rescue.
His word: “I can assure you that we will not rest until these hostages are returned.
However,because of the sensitivity of the matter, I can not go into further details as to signs of life, location, and the different options that we have in order to get these hostages back.
“We are working tirelessly to rescue hostages,” is very clearly at the top of military priorities. For this reason, we have relied on our international partners for support. Accordingly, they are providing the necessary support, including intelligence, that is giving us the advantage in dealing with the ugly situation.
“Of recent, these terrorists initiated a post that went viral on the attack on military vehicles. It might interest you to know that, that particular incident was reported when it occurred in Dec 2023. One soldier lost his life as a result of the attack. Afterward, troops conducted synchronised attacks, killing the leader of that group and several of his foot soldiers.
“The post is therefore clearly an act of desperation by the terrorist to conceal their weakness. Overall, we are winning the war and making life unbearable for these terrorists. We continue to degrade them with each passing day. We have seriously depleted their ranks to the extent that they are on a desperate recruitment drive, hence some of the witnessed abductions.
“Several of their leaders and commanders have been neutralised as a result of troops onslaught. They want to use these hostages as human shield for their survival. Nevertherless, be assured that we will not rest until the hostages are returned.
“As patriotic citizens, we must resist the temptation to celebrate post-terrorists and enemies of the state. These are not good people, rather, they are devils from the pit of hell. Consequently, If you find yourself celebrating terror, you’re wrong. Pure and simple.”
In the weekly update, Buba revealed that troops neutralized 213 individuals and arrested 216 others. Additionally, they apprehended 67 oil theft perpetrators and rescued 26 kidnapped hostages.
Buba further reported that troops thwarted an oil theft attempt, preventing the loss of an estimated 1.56 billion Naira (N1,558,665,080.00). They also recovered a significant arsenal, including 189 assorted weapons and 4,003 rounds of ammunition.
“Notably, troops in the Niger Delta successfully disrupted illegal oil refining operations. They discovered and destroyed 150 dugout pits, various storage facilities, vehicles, and over 40 illegal refining sites. Additionally, they seized stolen crude oil, illegally refined diesel, and gasoline”, he added.
By PRNigeria
