Troops arrest 147, rescue 39 hostages in 1 week – Military

The military high command said its troops attached to different operations across the country have arrested 147 suspected terrorists and other criminals in one-week operations. The Director, Defence Media Operations, Markus Kangye, a Major-General, told journalists at a briefing at Defence Headquarters, Abuja, on Thursday that troops also rescued 39 kidnap hostages. Giving the breakdown, […]

The military high command said its troops attached to different operations across the country have arrested 147 suspected terrorists and other criminals in one-week operations.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Markus Kangye, a Major-General, told journalists at a briefing at Defence Headquarters, Abuja, on Thursday that troops also rescued 39 kidnap hostages.

Giving the breakdown, he said troops in the North East arrested 26 terrorists’ collaborators, informants and terrorists’ sympathisers and rescued three hostages between 15-22 September 2025.

The senior military officer also said in the Northwest, troops arrested nine terrorists, including a notorious terrorist identified as Mallam Abubakar Ahmadu, who was apprehended in Paiko LGA of Niger State.

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Kangye also revealed that in the North Central, troops rescued 16 kidnapped people and arrested 71 suspected terrorists/kidnappers, adding that crude oil thieves were also denied access to oil worth N19,750,000.00.

In the South South, troops discovered and destroyed 16 illegal refining sites, 14 crude oil cooking ovens, seven dugout pits, 11 boats, and eight storage tanks.

According to Kangye, the troops also arrested 19 suspected oil thieves and nine other criminals.

In the South East, he said troops arrested six suspected terrorists and rescued three hostages.