The Boko Haram terrorists have reportedly run out of arms and ammunition as the Nigerian army continues its sweep operations to rid the Sambisa Forest of the remaining militants.
General Chris Olukolade, the director of defence information, confirmed this information to reporters in Abuja, saying that ground troops with support from air strikes have attacked the forest, smoking the insurgents out of their hideouts.While the army spokesman did not reveal whether the army had succeeded in killing or destroying terrorists’ camps in the current raid which began yesterday, an escapee from Tabe village in Damboa local government area said: “The Boko Haram terrorists have run out of arms and ammunitions as the military have intensified attacks on Sambisa Forest”.
“You can find more than 500 of the insurgents with only few of them having rifles and even when one or two of them have rifles, they have no ammunitions. It is just like somebody holding a stick…, as they have run out of ammunitions, because the usual supplies they get are not forthcoming.
“I am optimistic that the military will succeed by killing many of these sect members who have been terrorising residents in the past three years from the forest,” he noted.
The escapee further said that “the Boko Haram terrorists have only bow and arrows, matchetes, daggers and other local weapons, as they have run out of arms and ammunitions and were roaming about in the bushes of the villages along the fringes of the Sambisa forest.”
Another local of Yamtake village told journalists that, “As a result of the recent aerial bombardment on the Sambisa Forest, many of the sect members including their commanders have fled into the nearby bushes in Yamtake.”
“The operations, especially in forest locations, are progressing in defiance of obstacles and land mines emplaced by the terrorists,” the Nigerian military said in a statement on Wednesday.
Reports from the area are difficult to independently verify since the media and non-governmental organisations have limited access.
But a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force – made up of Nigerians, supporting military operations against Boko Haram – confirmed the latest reports to Al Jazeera, adding that fighting had left five vigilance group members and two soldiers dead.
As was reported yesterday, Nigerian troops with warplanes invaded the last known stronghold of the Boko Haram sect, the Sambisa forest in an attempt to rescue the Chibok girls, who were abducted a year ago, and to finally overcome Boko Haram’s six-year-old terrorism.
