Military Smoking Out Militants From Their Hide Outs

No hiding place for the pipeline vandals and kidnappers terrorising Lagos and Ogun revering areas, as the anti-pipeline vandalism Joint Task Force (JTF) has identified four more camps where the bad guys are hiding, and has now been scheduled for air strike by fighter jets of Nigerians Air Force.


Also, the Joint Task Force has arrested more vandals fleeing from the areas under attack.

In a joint press conference in Lagos yesterday, Chairman of the “Operation Awatse” and Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai, said through the surveillance gathered the military had identified four key targets.

According to him, the military will bomb the identified targets, which, “when knocked off, will set confusion in the militants and vandals’ camps.”

Recalling the operations in the last couple of days, he said after Nigeria Air Force’s Alpha jets and helicopters identified the targets, the task force invited all the agencies involved to do an after-battle assessment.

“We have seen the video that the reconnaissance aircraft have captured and we are very convinced that there is need to sustain the operation. We will continue to mop up the ground, as the Air Force continues to knock off target that we feel should be taken out.”

On progress made, Bobai said 11 suspects had been arrested and now being processed, adding: “We are profiling and interrogating them to get more clues that will assist us in the operation. All the security agencies are involved in this operation, to avoid infiltration of other areas by militants. The attack will not be limited to Arepo. If we get information that some of them have escaped to Lekki or other areas of Lagos, we will go after them.”

He revealed that the task force would set ablaze the thousands of jerry cans filled with stolen fuel, as captured by air force surveillance camera, since it is difficult to recover them.

The General Officer Commanding, 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Isidore Edet; the Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal Sani Ahmed; the Commander, 9 Brigade of Nigerian Army, Brig.-General Sani Mohammed; the Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni; the Commandant, NSCDC, Tajudeen Balogun; and Director, Department of State Security Services (DSS) attended the briefing.

Although the navy chairs the JTF, the aerial bombardment, surveillance and reconnaissance is being carried out under the leadership of the AOC Logistics Command, AVM Sani Ahmed, who coordinates and guides the air component of the entire exercise.

With so many targets in the creeks, it was gathered that the vandals had set up observation posts, which are manned by their heavily armed duty guards. But the heat is getting hotter.