The Nigerian Army has revealed that the corpses of 15 soldiers declared missing in action have been recovered.
The soldiers went missing during an operation to dislodge the Boko Haram insurgents from Gashigar Area in Borno State, on October 16, 2016.
The Theatre Commander of ‘Operation Lafiya Dole’, Major-General Lucky Irabor, disclosed this on Wednesday, January 11, at a weekly review of ‘Operation Rescue Final’, at Maimalari Cantonment, Maiduguri.
He said: “The corpses were recovered at Kamadugou River line area in Maiduguri.
“Among the recovered corpses was that of Lieutenant-Colonel K. Yusuf, the former Commanding Officer of 223 Tank Battalion. They had since been buried in Maimalari Cantonment Cemetery with full military honours.”
Among the recovered bodies was that of Lieutenat-Colonel K Yusuf, the former commanding officer of 223 Tank Battalion.
Meanwhile, Irabor has revealed that the Nigerian army has arrested about 963 suspected Boko Haram terrorists after a 6-day operation.
Irabor made this known at the weekly review of the Operation Rescue Final at Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, Borno state capital.
He said: “On January 3 at about 1240hrs, 4 women and 13 children were apprehended by vigilantes at Buni Yadi and were later handed over to our troops.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the women were wives of Boko Haram terrorists who fled from Sambisa forest as a result of our operations. All suspects are in our custody undergoing investigation.
“On January 9, a surrendered Boko Haram member was identified as a male sympathiser and spy in Monguno area. We also identified two wives of Amir (Boko Haram Commander) from the arrested members.”
“On January 5, at about 1030hrs, following a tip-off, troops and the civilian joint task force arrested four Boko Haram suspects at Shuwari village.”
He named the suspects as Modu Auwami, Mamye Modu, Usman Kachanawa and Mallum Maji.
“During preliminary investigation, some local witnesses identified Auwami as one who provided medical treatment to injured terrorists,” he said.
“The other three suspects claimed they were abducted by the terrorists and that they only spent few days in their camps.”
According to him, the suspects are now in the army’s custody undergoing further interrogation.
He said all the suspects confessed to be members of the sect, claiming they came to town to buy Tramadol tablets.
The army commander added that they were arrested with 27 sachets of Tramadol tablets, three sachets of Cowbel chocolate and the sum of N5,000.
He also said that on January 5 at about 1130hrs 119 Nigerian IDPs – 20 male adults, 25 female adults, and 74 children – were handed over to Nigerian troops at Banki by the Cameroonian forces.