THE Defence Headquarters (DHQ), on Sunday, confirmed that 22 soldiers were killed during clearance operations in the terrorist stronghold and enclave known as Timbuktu Triangle in the North-East.
The military high command further added that troops also killed three terrorist commanders and over 70 combatants during the operation.
These were contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the Director, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major-General Edward Buba.
The statement said the operations, which commenced on January 16, were aimed at dismantling terrorists’ presence around Timbuktu Triangle.
“During the operations, the terrorists deployed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Person-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (suicide bombers), as well as Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (suicide bombers in explosive vehicles) to ward off troops’ advance and attacks.
“Troops already familiar with the terrorists’ tactics thwarted the several attempts, including shooting down the amateur drones used by the terrorists.
“Troops of Operation Hadin Kai in North-East conducted clearance operation to remove terrorists’ stronghold and enclave known as Timbuktu Triangle.
“The three-prong operations aimed at dismantling the terrorists’ presence within Timbuktu Triangle commenced on January 16.
“Troops recorded several encounters with terrorists during the course of the clearance operations, which result in over 70 terrorist combatants, including three notable terrorist commanders killed.
“The terrorist commanders killed include and is not limited to the following, Talha (Terrorist Special Forces Commander), Mallam Umar (Terrorist Operations Commander) and Abu Yazeeed (Terrorist Brigade Commander).
“During the operations, the terrorists deployed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Person-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (suicide bombers) as well as Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (suicide bombers in explosive vehicles) to ward-off troops’ advance and attacks.
“Troops already familiar with the terrorist tactics thwarted the several terrorists’ attempts, including shooting down the amateur drones used by the terrorists.
“Overall, during the course of the operations, troops sadly recorded 22 killed in action casualties, with several others wounded in action. On this account, the media is enjoined to resist publishing names of troop casualties to allow the formal notification of their next of kins.
“On the whole, the operation is ongoing and the public will be updated on further developments in due course,” Major-General Buba said.
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