About 17 camps of Boko Haram spread across Adamawa and Borno States have come under sustained pounding by troops deployed to the Northeast to flush out terrorists in the area.
Over 80 insurgents arrested during the raids are currently being grilled at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri.
Fresh intelligence discovery by the military also confirmed that Boko Haram members have changed tactics as they now seem to prefer unprimed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
The Nation gathered yesterday that troops have subjected more than 17 Boko Haram’s camps in the two states to pounding in the last 24 hours.
“We have had sustained air raids on more than 17 locations of the insurgents in the last 24 hours,” one source said.
“The encounters were mostly in mountains, forests and borders between Adamawa and Borno States. We have been targeting these areas in order not to give them a breathing space and to ensure there is no violation of the borders.
“The reality is that we are going to sustain the air strikes for as long as possible; we will not relent at all.”
Responding to a question, the source said over 80 insurgents had been arrested and were undergoing interrogation at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri.
The source, who said some of the Boko Haram fighters were in bad shape, however, claimed that the Defence Headquarters had directed that the wounded be offered full medical service.
The DHQ gave the directive in line with its rules of engagement and international practices on armed conflict.
The source added: “We are currently interrogating more than 80 insurgents; we are also sorting them out based on empirical evidence of what we found on them.
“Most of the insurgents were badly wounded; some of them look fragile; and a few others were bleeding.
“The Defence Headquarters has however directed that we should give them full medical service in line with our rules of engagement and international best practices.
“We are already taking care of them in different medical facilities although some have little chance of survival.”
On why soldiers were reportedly running away from Boko Haram targeted areas, the military source said: “The troops are neither withdrawing from battle fronts or afraid of encounters with the insurgents.
“What happens is that whenever they locate or sight Boko Haram camps, they will call for air raids and they have a responsibility to get out of the place before air strikes or else they will be killed along with the insurgents.
“So a Senator that is saying that troops are running is not familiar with military tactics. Our air strikes on the insurgents are usually devastative and if troops remain during such raids, they will be killed too.
“What the troops do is to keep a safe distance and lay ambush for the insurgents running away from air strikes.”
But the source said the military had just discovered Boko Haram’s new tactics for unprimed IEDs.
He said: “They now have preference for unprimed IEDs which can go through security checks undetected. In the past, they were using primed IEDs which would be planted at strategic locations.
“On Friday, we found out that they have chosen to be smuggling unprimed IEDs into targeted areas and whenever they are ready to attack, they will unleash the explosives.
“This is why we are doing more cordon and search, frisking, and combing of everyone because unprimed IEDs can only be located as an item but cannot be detected by security sniffing gadgets.
“The intelligence units are also working on the probability that some external forces are giving backing to these insurgents. The patrols are on and more of the arrests of those with unprimed IEDs are being made.”
The Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade confirmed the arrest of many suspects.
He said the military needs information from those arrested and “the more of them we catch alive, the better for our intelligence.
“For instance, one of the specialists in butchering innocent citizens is in our net and he has made far-reaching disclosures. These insurgents are always after martyrdom but we want them alive for questioning.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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