Army killed seven terrorist leaders in months – Defence minister

The Minister of Defence, Muhammad Badaru, has said that military operatives in the last few months killed no fewer than seven top leaders of the insurgency in the country.

The minister said this in an interview with newsmen after addressing members of Senior Course 46 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji Military Cantonment, on Tuesday in Kaduna.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the minister, who was on a working visit, delivered an address to the course participants at a seminar organised by the college on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism.

The theme for the seminar was “Imperatives of Operational and Tactical Level Leadership for Enhanced Counter Terrorism, Counter Insurgency  Operations in Nigeria.”

Badaru said, “The government’s commitment to defeating the insurgency is a comprehensive security strategy and community engagement remains unwavering.

“We are pursuing a whole-of-the-government approach in handling the counter-insurgency and anti-banditry operations.”

According to him, there is improvement in the fight against insurgency, adding that insurgency in the North-West occurs from time to time.

The minister added, “We cannot be able to put boots in every corner of the country, so as every other country.

“The military are not enough, what the bandits do is take advantage of soft targets.

“They find out where there is the absence of the military, they attack and run to the bushes.”

Badaru stressed that the military was following them up and would defeat them.

He disclosed that the military would deploy technology for surveillance and tracing to find the terrorists and deal with them decisively.

“From what you have seen, in the last few months, the military have killed about seven big leaders of the insurgency.

“We are working hard to continue defeating them, and we are making progress,” he added.

On the issue of a non-kinetic approach to the fight against insurgency, he said many of the insurgents were surrendering.

He, therefore, said that they were accepting and de-radicalising the insurgents and re-interpreting them back into society, while those who didn’t want to repent would be dealt with and decimated.

Speaking further after a tour of some of the military facilities and formations in the cantonment, Badaru said some of the facilities were meant to train special forces to fight insurgency.

The minister said a total of 2,400 of the special forces would be trained and the first phase would begin with 800 military personnel.

He explained that the special forces would be saddled with the responsibility of tackling the insurgents till they were done with them while disclosing that the training would begin in two months.

“There are enough fighting equipment and platforms, which after the training, they will go into the forests and fish out the terrorists,” he said.

The minister acknowledged the different types of training camps which included that of peacekeeping troops, who would be deployed to Sudan, among others.

According to him, this signifies the level of commitment to peace by the Federal Government and the military.

Badaru commended the personnel in charge of the different trainings, adding that what he saw had reinvigorated his belief that the government would be able to surmount the security challenges in the country.

He charged the personnel to be active, and creative and always think ahead to continue defeating the criminals.