The Defence Headquarters has said that the Daru-salam estremist group will soon go into extinction in the country.
The Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, stated this in Abuja while responding to questions during a media briefing at the Defence Headquarters at the weekend.
Blueprint recalls that over 400 members of the group surrendered to the Nigerian military in Nasarawa and Kogi states after it busted the group’s bomb making factory in Nasarawa state.
Enenche said the military is collaborating with religious bodies and other stakeholders to counter the ideology of the extremist group.
“Their motivation is ideology, which we all know is difficult to defeat, but we are collaborating with all stakeholders, especially religious organisations to dissolve the Daru-salam ideology, ” he said.
He said the Nigerian military has usually receive important information from its informants on the activities of Daru-salam and other criminals elements, and encourage people to provide relevant information to the military and security agencies about criminals and suspected people in their areas.
“We give our informants maximum protection and we encourage everyone with relevant information because we protect them ultimately,” Enenche said.
“We provide our informants the best international practice for informant protection. We make sure that there is no retaliatory action against them. “
Speaking about the military operations in the past week, Enenche said troops of Operation SAHEL SANITY acting on actionable intelligence arrested one illegal arms supplier, Usman Ibrahim, in Plateau state. He said the suspect was arrested with 890 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition carefully concealed in his vehicle.
He said the troops also arrested a man and woman, Kabiru Dauda and Hafsat Musa with nine parcel of substance suspected to be cannabis and other illicit hard drugs, during stop and search operation on 12 September 2020, in Gusau, Zamfara state.
Enenche also said troops acting on credible intelligence arrested a wanted suspected bandit named Usman Gorjo at Ungwar Alhaji Danbuzu and a suspected bandit informant named Isah Bala at Daudawa village. He said they were arrested in connection to the death of the head of Daudawa vigilante group who was killed recently.
“In another development, troops of Operation SALAMA (an internal security outfit in Jigawa State), raided the residence of a suspected armed bandit at Kabaka Village in Gwiwa Local Government Area of Jigawa State, ” he said “During the raid, troops arrested his wife and 4 others while 2 AK 47 rifles, 5 magazines and 149 rounds of ammunition were recovered.”
On the operation in the North east, Enenche said on September 10, 2010 troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE in conjunction with Civilian JTF engaged in a gun duel with ISWAP fighters at Kassa Kura in Maiduguri, Borno state, during a fighting patrol, killing two of the terrorists.
He said on the same day, troops “successfully repelled” two terrorists’ attacks, killed two ISWAP fighters and recovered some cache of arms and ammunition at Ngala and Baga towns.
“Meanwhile, at Ngurosoye Village of Bama Local Government Area and Dalori Gari in Maiduguri town of Borno State, troops conducted ambush operations which led to the neutralization of three ISWAP elements and recovery of large cache of arms and ammunition, ” Enenche said.
” In the same vein, on 11 September 2020, troops on patrols at various locations in Borno state encountered ambushes and attacks by ISWAP fighters. In all, troops with superior firepower overwhelmed the terrorists and repelled them. The operations led to the neutralization of 5 terrorists as others fled with various degrees of gunshot wounds.”
He said troops in conjunction with local vigilantes killed four ISWAP fighters and arrested seven of them on 14 September 2020, during conducted cordon and search operations at Gashua Local Government Area of Yobe state.
