Nigerian Military Kills 212 Terrorists, Court Releases 313 Boko Haram Suspects

The Defense Headquarters on Thursday said the Nigerian Military has killed 212 terrorists, captured 253 and rescued 244 kidnapped hostages in various operations across the country within a week.

The news came on the same day as the Federal High Court in Borno directed the release of at least 313 suspected terrorists detained by the military due to insufficient evidence against them.

Director of Defense Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, revealed the killings and released details to the media during a briefing in Abuja.

"During the week, as a follow-up to a court order of the Federal High Court in Maiduguri, a total of 313 suspects in detention for terrorism-related offenses were to be released to the Borno State government," he said, Punch reported.

"The court ordered the release for want of evidence after the conclusion of the investigation and other ancillary matters. The cases were prosecuted by the Department of Prosecution, Federal Ministry of Justice. Accordingly, they would be handed over to the Borno State Government for further action."

Regarding military operations over the past week, Buba stated that in the Northeast, troops of Operation Hadin Kai eliminated 52 terrorists, arrested 137 individuals and rescued 78 kidnapped hostages.

Furthermore, they also recovered three M56 rifles, 40 AK47 rifles, three PKT guns, 13 fabricated rifles, two hand grenades and 889 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo amongst others.

Whereas in North Central, the Nigerian military killed 47 terrorists, apprehended 17 and rescued four kidnap victims as well as recovered a cache of arms.

Talking about the North-West, the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralized 62 terrorists, arrested 12 others and rescued 162 kidnapped hostages.

Buba noted that the troops recovered 46 AK47 rifles, 26 locally made Dane guns, one fabricated revolver pistol, 352 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo and 101 rounds of 7.62mm NATO among other items.

The details were shared one week after President Bola Tinubu gave "full authority" to the Nigerian military to bring to justice anybody found to have been responsible for the deadly attack on armed forces in Delta state that killed 12 soldiers and four army officers.