Nigerian troops capped a tough week in the fight against terrorism and crime, killing 69 terrorists, freeing over 360 kidnap victims, and arresting 49 suspects in raids across five regions.
The figures were released at the weekly defence briefing in Abuja by Major General Michael Onoja, Director of Defence Media Operations, who said the gains came at a cost: one soldier was killed in action and another wounded during the string of operations.
Beyond the human toll on both sides of the conflict, troops also struck at the illicit economy that fuels much of the country’s insecurity. Anti-crude-oil-theft units tore down three reactivated illegal refineries and seized 251,600 liters of stolen crude, while a dozen dug-out storage pits used to stockpile the contraband product were destroyed.
The Northeast theater, long the epicenter of the campaign against Boko Haram and ISWAP remnants, again produced some of the week’s most dramatic moments.
Operation Hadin Kai troops foiled an attempt by gunmen to snatch civilians along the Buratai–Kamuya Road in Biu council area of Borno State, chasing the fleeing attackers and freeing 31 people, a mix of men, women and children, while recovering several vehicles and a motorcycle abandoned in the pursuit.
Days later, a clearance patrol near Amuda Bridge in Gwoza local government area pulled four more captives out of a terrorist enclave where they had been held since the 2023 farming season, reuniting them with their community.
Perhaps the most poignant rescue involved Blessing Tuggur, an 18-year-old woman abducted from the Askira Uba area in November of last year. Troops located and freed her nearly nine months after she was seized; she has since been reunited with her family following medical evaluation.
Onoja said the broader sweep through Borno also netted suspected informants and logistics suppliers accused of feeding intelligence and supplies to armed groups. At the same time, several relatives of terrorists reportedly surrendered or were intercepted in Gwoza, Konduga and Bama.
In the North West, Operation Fansan Yamma troops intercepted 21 people travelling toward Birnin Kebbi after tracking suspicious movement through Kaduna State’s Giwa area; five were subsequently identified as terrorists and handed over to the Department of State Services for further questioning, while the rest were released to continue their journey.
A separate patrol in Sokoto State picked up four suspects along with rustled cattle and cash believed to be proceeds of stolen livestock.
The Nigerian Air Force also weighed in, carrying out a precision strike on a cluster of terrorists who had gathered with roughly 15 motorcycles in Niger State’s Mariga local government area, apparently massing for an attack. Onoja said a battle-damage assessment confirmed the kill, and secondary explosions at the site pointed to the destruction of stockpiled ordnance and equipment.
The single largest rescue of the week unfolded in Niger State, where Operation Savanna Shield troops, working jointly with other units, pulled 308 abducted civilians, overwhelmingly women and children, out of the Kainji Lake National Park area.
The military said the victims traced back to two communities: more than 160 from Woro village in Kwara State and the remainder from villages within Niger State itself.
Elsewhere in the North Central corridor, Operation Whirl Stroke troops freed seven kidnap victims in Benue State’s Ukum area who had been abducted along a Taraba State highway weeks earlier. At the same time, separate details in Kogi State foiled one abduction bid outright and rescued two other captives.
Troops also repelled an attempted reprisal attack on a military facility in Niger State, killing one attacker and recovering several motorcycles without sustaining casualties.
Kidnapping for ransom along the region’s highways remains a persistent threat, and Operation Delta Safe troops rescued 11 travellers seized along the Lagos–Benin Road in Edo State.
Further south, Operation Delta Sentinel units kept up the pressure on the crude-oil theft networks that have bled Nigeria’s petroleum sector for years, dismantling illegal refining sites across Rivers and Delta states and confiscating well over 250,000 litres of stolen and illegally refined product in a series of raids through the first week of August.
In the South East, Operation Udoka pressed its investigation into a deadly ambush on security personnel earlier this year, arresting several suspects tied to the attack and recovering weapons allegedly used in it.
In a separate development, a militia leader known by the nom de guerre “Comedy” turned in a cache of arms buried in Imo State, working through the state’s amnesty office.
Troops in Enugu State also arrested five suspected members of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra movement, destroying their hideout and recovering machine guns, ammunition, and an improvised explosive device.
Chief of Defence Staff General Olufemi Oluyede praised troops across every theatre for what he called their discipline and dedication and credited the week’s results in part to cooperation between the armed forces, other security agencies, vigilante groups, and local communities.
He urged Nigerians to keep feeding useful information to security personnel and pledged that the military would sustain the current operational tempo until stability is restored nationwide.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
In one week, Nigerian troops freed over 360 kidnapped victims, killed 69 terrorists, and arrested 49 suspects across five regions while also dismantling illegal oil refineries worth over 250,000 liters of stolen crude.
The single biggest win was the rescue of 308 civilians, mostly women and children, from Kainji Lake National Park. The cost: one soldier killed, one wounded.
The takeaway for the public: the kidnapping-for-ransom and oil-theft economies remain the military’s two biggest fronts, and both are being hit hard, but not without casualties on the security side.
