The
Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Wednesday said the killings of scores of
people in Borno and Yobe in the past few days are signs that the Boko
Haram terrorists are losing the battle against government forces.
The
military said the trend of sneaking in to carry out isolated attacks on
soft targets as a way of seeking attention is a typical end-game
strategy often employed by insurgents all over the world.
Seven
secondary school students and two teachers were killed in Damaturu, the
Yobe State capital when gunmen, believed to be Boko Haram, attacked a
government school on Sunday. A day later, suspected Boko Haram gunmen
attacked two different locations, a school and a fishing village, in
Maiduguri, Borno State capital, killing nine students and 13 fishermen.
In
a statement signed by the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier
General Chris Olukolade, the Nigerian military said the recent
activities are signs of desperation of a decimated insurgent group
attempting to hang on to public consciousness.
With
the destruction of their operational bases and camps by the Special
Forces, the group’s centre of gravity had been effectively dislocated,
he said. He said this had made it impossible for the terrorists to have
freedom of action to operate as they did previously.
The military also said eight of the suspected terrorists have been apprehended in the outskirts of Maiduguri.
The
statement said Special Forces have stepped up the mop-up, cordon and
search operations “to ensure that the vestiges of terrorism are
effectively decimated.
“The
DHQ has noted a number of attacks and killing of innocent citizens
ostensibly carried out by terrorists in Yobe and Borno in the last
couple of days.
“Although
this isolated incidents were undertaken by relocating terrorists, the
whole trend and development remains unfortunate and condemnable.
“Nevertheless,
the public is hereby reassured that these incidences are by no means
indicative of a relapse in the counter-insurgency operation aimed at
curbing terrorists’ activities in the country.”
The military, however, urged the public to continue to report any suspicious movement to security agents.
Source: NAN
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