The Nigerian military has denied Amnesty International’s report which accused its personnel of torture in the North-east, describing it as “lies”.
Amnesty International had alleged that at least 10,000 persons died while being wrongly held by the military, some of them in a centre part funded by the UK.
However, in a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Coordinator Defence Media Operations Maj.-Gen. John Enenche said all the allegations are “lies”.
He said, “To say that we are torturing children is not true. We are a party to international conventions on how to handle, women, children and people who are not combatants. I can assure you that the armed forces of Nigeria particularly those in the North-east are professional.”
On the update of the various operations of the military across the country including Operation LAFIYA DOLE and HADARIN DAJI, Enenche said the military has killed 188 Boko haram/ ISWAP terrorists in the North-east and over 392 bandits in the North-west in the last one month.
He said: “In Operation LAFIYA DOLE, several members of the Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT)/ISWAP fighters and senior commanders were neutralized and their logistics facilities, gun trucks and other structures destroyed as well as recovery of weapons.
“Within the period under review, a total of 188 BHT/ISWAP fighters were killed and several others suffered various degrees of gunshot wounds with narrow chances of survival. This is in addition to several others killed in air bombardments.
“The troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE also rescued several civilians – women and children, who were abducted by the terrorists. The total number rescued within this period is 236. The victims have undergone medical checkups and treatments at our health facilities.”
On Operation HADARIN DAJI, the Coordinator said: “Troops of Operation HADARIN DAJI have in various clearance operations neutralized 392 armed bandits and destroyed some of their dwellings and logistics warehouses within the period under review at Dunya, Abu Radde’s Camp and Ibrahim Mai Bai’s Camp in Jibia and Danmusa Local Government Areas of Katsina state as well as Maikomi and Kurmin Kurain Birnin Magaji and Zurmi Local Government Areas of Zamfara state.
“This is in addition to several others killed by air bombardments. Also, the air interdiction led to destruction of several logistics facilities and compounds, housing some key bandits’ leaders. Human intelligence report confirmed the casualty figures,” he said.
