Large terrorist armoury found in Nigeria

Nigerian troops operating in the northeast part of the country have captured a massive armoury belonging to insurgents, the Nigerian Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said Saturday.

Major General Chris Olukolade, spokesperson of the Nigerian military headquarters, said in a statement that a dump of the insurgents were sighted in one of the camps, around the Lake Chad area, that fell Friday night in the ongoing counter terrorism operations, Xinhua reported.

He said the large quantities of weapons recovered in the raid were still being moved from the scene of the night raid where several terrorists also were killed.

According to the spokesperson, similar operations took place in other camps in coordination with the troops of Multi-National Joint Task Force.

He said the terrorists camps are located on the outskirts of Duguri, Polkime, Malafatori and other locations around the fringes of Lake Chad.

Substantial money in different currencies and denominations were also recovered from the camps, Olukolade added, noting that seven terrorists were captured in the operation during which a soldier died while five were wounded.

Troops conducting "Cordon and Search" for remnants of the insurgents, who on Friday attacked Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, also had an encounter with some of the surviving insurgents.

The spokesperson said the encounter was in the general area of Kayamla and Alu Dam on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

According to him, more of the insurgents have been killed and arrested in the ongoing encounters, adding that those captured in the encounter are providing useful information toward the discovery of other hideouts of the daring insurgents.

The spokesperson said more bodies of fleeing insurgents have also been discovered along the routes of their escape.

Olukolade said the "Cordon and Search" as well as "Patrol and Pursuit" by air and land would continue in the entire mission area of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

The Boko Haram, which has proved to be a major security threat in Nigeria since 2009, has killed hundreds of people in the last three months in many village attacks across three states in the northeast region.