Army takes Boko Haram war to another level, 1400 suspects arrested

Major-General Leo Irabor has revealed that Nigerian troops have in the last eight days arrested 1400 civilians as they move to end the Boko Haram insurgence in the northeast. Army takes Boko Haram war to another level, 1400 suspects arrested The commander of the ongoing counterinsurgency operation made this known during a weekly briefing on the activities of the Nigerian military in the six states of northeast Nigeria. The figure brings the number of suspects arrested by the Nigeria troops, within two weeks, to about 2700.

Premium Times reports that on Wednesday, December 28, 2016, Irabor had at the same weekly briefing said that troops arrested 1,240 Boko Haram suspects following the fall of Sambisa forest. The suspects were not paraded before the media, as top military officials said doing so may jeopardize ongoing investigations. Army takes Boko Haram war to another level, 1400 suspects arrested It was not clear what they were accused of. Irabor said troops have cleared many villages in Borno and Yobe States, following the fall of Sambisa Forest. The commander said “a total of 1,400 civilians were arrested by our troops during all our operations conducted between 28 December 2016 – 4 January, 2017”. He said a couple of top Boko Haram insurgents, including kidnappers, have been arrested within the period under review. Irabor also said that troops had on December 29, 2016 carried out an ambush attack on Boko Haram fighters at a village called Rann, killing 15 of the insurgents. He said four soldiers were wounded during the gun battle. He said troops successfully reopened the Maiduguri-Gubio-Damasak Road on December 25, 2016, which allowed displaced residents of Damasak border town to return to their communities, either from Maiduguri or from border communities in Niger Republic. Meanwhile, troops of the Nigerian Army have rescued another one of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in 2014. According to the report, the girl was rescued with her baby near Sambisa Forest The rescue was made by troops of the 27 Brigade of the Nigerian Army around Alagarno near Ajigin in Damboa local government area of Borno state. Rakiya makes the 29th Chibok girl rescued out of the more than 200 girls abducted by Islamist Boko Haram fighters in April 2014 while preparing for their secondary school examinations.