Military: Boko Haram, ISWAP Planning to Produce Explosives

Troops arrest terrorist on wanted list, raid IED hub in North East

Nigerian Army Headquarters, yesterday, raised the alarm that terrorist groups, Boko Haram and the Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP), were embarking on the acquisition of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) materials in order to produce explosives.

It said the objective of the groups was to unleash more terror on innocent civilians in order to maintain a posture of relevance.

The war update said the development followed the depletion of the groups' fighters by military's aerial and artillery bombardment.

Thousands of the terrorists have recently surrendered to troops with their families.

The army, in a statement, said troops of Sector 2 Joint Task Force North-east Operation Hadin Kai, arrested a high profile Boko Haram member, who has been on the wanted list of the military.

Soldiers also raided the terror group's IED materials hub in Damboa and Gashua Local Government Areas of Borno and Yobe States, respectively.

The statement noted that the operational success was recorded following robust operations conducted by troops.

"Following a tip off, the wanted terrorist, one Yawi Modu, was nabbed along Damboa-Wajiroko Road," the statement stated.

Following the development, troops raided a urea fertilizer syndicate known for supplying terrorists with IED materials. The market, where the arrest was effected, was believed to be the notorious hub for IED materials for BHT/ISWAP.

"These ISWAP criminals facing the reality of obvious depletion are desperately acquiring IED materials to make explosive devices with which to unleash terror on innocent civilians in a bid to remain relevant and present a posture of potency", the statement signed by Army Spokesman, Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu, said.

In the sting operation conducted by troops, a total of 281 50kg bags of urea were recovered from the warehouses in the market and two notorious BHT distributors were also arrested.

"Recall that urea fertilizer has been banned by government, because of its use as a major component for manufacturing IED by terrorists," it said.

The statement affirmed that the suspects and materials recovered were undergoing preliminary investigation.

While commending the vigilance and resilience of the troops, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya, reassured them of his support and determination to rout terrorists from the North-east.