In what has been a celebrated advantage by the Nigerian army in its war against the Boko Haram, it appears that the sustained military offensive has begun to yield results. The Army has reported that over 700 Boko Haram fighters had surrendered to troops engaged in the fight against the insurgent group.
From a statement on the army’s website, it said the repented ‘terrorists’ handed themselves in on Monday July 3, 2017 “due to sustained series of bombardment on suspected location of Boko Haram terrorists.”
“Meanwhile, out of the 700, 70 have come out of hiding and are being profiled. The rest are expected to come out from hiding in the coming days.
“Preliminary investigation has shown that among them were key commanders and influential members of the terrorists group, one of whom matches suspect number 225 on Boko Haram terrorists most wanted list released by the Nigerian Army.
“So far, the surrendered terrorists have been making useful statements and it is expected that many more of them will surrender.”
The fight against the Boko Haram group is being executed under the Operation Laafiya Dole – Peace by all means, mandate. The army has reclaimed areas held by the group as at 2015 when President Buhari took office. The group has since 2015 been restricted in the nature of their attacks more often than not using suicide bombers to hit civilian populations in capital of Borno State and place of its birth, Maiduguri.
The Boko Haram crisis extends beyond Nigeria where it started, neighbouring countries in the Lake Chad region – Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Niger – have all been affected by their attacks. A humanitarian crisis has been birthed in the region as people continue to flee the attacks by the group.
