The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Thursday said troops deployed to different theatres of operations across the country neutralised over 500 terrorists’ leaders, 8,034 foot soldiers and arrested 11,623 in 2024.
The military high command also said troops rescued 6,376 hostages in the last one year.
Director Defence Media Operations Major-General Edward Buba disclosed this while briefing journalists in Abuja.
He said troops also recovered 8,216 weapons and 211,459 ammunitions.
The defence spokesperson revealed that troops denied oil thieves crude estimated at the sum over N57 billion.
According to him, the breakdown of the recoveries are as follows: “4,053 AK47 rifles, 1,123 locally fabricated guns, 731 dane guns and 240 pump action guns.
“Others are; 120,247 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 41,515 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 5,373 cartridges, 1,940 assorted arms and 25,664 assorted ammunitions.”
“Additionally, troops recovered: 53,101,430 litres of stolen crude oil, 9,179,181 litres of illegally refined AGO and 90,595 litres of DPK. Others are; 156,095 litres of PMS amongst other items,” he added.
General Buba said the armed forces was constantly examining ways to improve the effectiveness of its operations and guarantee the safety of citizens.
“Overall, the military is keeping up the pressure through ongoing operations in the various theatres across the country.
“The military is through these operations, increasingly creating conditions in which terrorist cannot carry out acts of terror or harm citizens.
“Relatedly, operations are on an upward trajectory to winning the war,” he said.
Answering questions from journalists on what the military was doing to ensure safety of Nigerians during the Yuletide, he said: “The military is heightening its state of security alert as well as increasing its security readiness to ensure that the state of security is not escalated beyond what it is.
“One thing is clear and the terrorists know it. They will bear the consequences of trying to escalate the security situation in the country.”
On the arrest of Samuel Ekpa, General Buba said: “The arrest of Samuel Ekpa is a beautiful development. I want to let you know that terrorism is an international crime and a global phenomenon, one country cannot do it alone. That is why recently we have regional and international collaboration against it.
“We are happy that the international community has seen it and has done the needful. He will face the music. “
