Operation Crack Down”: Troops Block Insurgents’ Movement In and Out of Sambisa Forest
Chief of Army Staff General Tukur Buratai
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Tukur Buratai, on Wednesday said ground troops had blocked movement of Boko Haram terrorists in and out of Sambisa forest.
Buratai stated this while fielding
questions from newsmen shortly after monitoring troops’ deployment at
Banki junction in Borno.
He said that “Operation Crack Down”
which is the mission to clear Sambisa forest of Boko Haram Terrorists
began on April 27th 2016 and had been successful as the troops were
making steady progress in dismantling the remaining Boko Haram hideouts
in Sambisa.
“The troops are doing very well; they
had some challenges in terms of encounters with the terrorists in the
theatre but that is being tackled. The troops are forming a blocking
force to prevent the terrorists from moving into Sambisa or coming out
of the area. I am here to see the ground forces and how they are doing;
so far so good, but there is tremendous operation going on presently
inside the main Sambisa forest,” he said.
He also said that he was at Banki to confirm the movement of troops and equipment and to observe the situation in the “theatre”.
Buratai said that the location of troops
at Banki junction was significant in the military operations to
restrict movement of the insurgents from outside the country through
Cameroon or Chad.
“We were together with the Chief of
Defence Staff and the Chief of Air Staff in Maiduguri where the theatre
commander briefed us on the ongoing operation crack down. This Banki
junction is a major route that links the north to the south and is also
bordering Cameroon; it is also a link to Chad Republic. It is a major
route which the Boko Haram insurgents have been using to move between
the Sambisa forest and the northern part of the country, up to the Lake
Chad waters. So, it is an important location which has tactical,
strategic as well as operational significance to what we are doing in
this region,” he said.
The army chief disclosed that ground
troops supported by Nigerian Air Force fighter jets would continue to
hit the forest until the insurgents were eventually cleared.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, and the Army and Air Force chiefs met behind closed doors in Maiduguri on Monday to appraise the Sambisa operation.
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