In a bid to curb the lingering attacks an killing in southern Kaduna, the Military has deployed special operation forces towards securing the lives and properties in the area.
The special Task Force, Operation Safe Heaven (OPSH), maintaining peace in Pleateau, Bauchi as well as part of the southern Kaduna were deployed to the joint operations area covering the various flash points.
Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, who disclosed this during the weekly news conference in Abuja, explained that the move was expected to achieve the desired results with the provision of credible and actionable intelligence specifically from the primary sources.
He, however, to this end he urged residents in the area not to panic but rather cooperate with the security agencies by availing them the required information that would be useful to achieve the collective objective of curbing the criminal activities from the area.
Also speaking on the warning earlier sounded by the United States of America African Command (US AFRICOM) on the infiltration of the Islamic state in Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda in some parts of the country, Enenche said the security agencies were ahead of the evolving security challenges, adding that the Forces were not taking the warning signals for granted.
“sequel to the warning by US AFRICOM that extremists have begun deploying several strategies to silently re-establish themselves across some regions in Africa including the West Africa sub-region, the Armed Forces of Nigeria and all the relevant security agencies is leaving nothing to chance.
“Consequently, actions in place in this regard are being reviewed to handle this all-important intelligence appropriately. I am directed to assure the general public that this is not a one-off but continuous effort as it were to ensure that the security agencies are ahead of this evolving security challenge”.
On operations in the North West Zone of the country, the Coordinator said troops of Operation Hadarin Daji have continued the aggressive clearance operations in the entire zone.
He said “for the past one month, we have witnessed downward trend in the activities of armed bandits and cattle rustlers in the general areas of Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto and adjoining states.
“Most of these criminal elements have been decimated. Gradually there is restoration of human activities in the zone. Farmers have returned to their farms while other economic activities have picked up across the zone.
“The troops have continued to dominate the general area with clearance patrols, aggressive fighting patrols and confidence-building patrols. Enenche added.
The Coordinator also spoke on the alleged report that troops deployed to fight insurgency in Baga areas of Borno State were dealing in livestock and farming and dismissed the allegations saying that “in line with military procedures, it was investigated and found to be baseless”
