Terrorists Suffering Heavy Casualties From Military - Lai Mohammed Says Over Insecurity

The Federal Government has said that it was not being overwhelmed by the strikes of the terrorists in the country maintaining that the outlaws were suffering heavy casualties that were deliberately not being made public by the military.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made this disclosure Wednesday while responding to questions from newsmen after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.

The minister, who blamed the media for providing oxygen for terrorists by publishing their activities on the front page of every newspaper, also confirmed Tuesday’s attack on the military base in Birnin Gwari area of Kaduna State insisting that the terrorists were repelled and suffered heavy casualties.

He said: “Yes, there was an attack on a military base in Kaduna State but what was not reported was the very timely and efficient manner it was repelled, and the huge casualty suffered by the bandits/terrorists. I also have a video of the area interdiction by the military.

“I keep saying that this is an asymmetrical war in which we are not at liberty only to tell you in detail how the camps of the bandits are being decimated daily. It is a war of attrition, but our military is living to the billing, our military is working day and night to ensure that the terrorists are neutralized. We will continue to give information on the progress we are making in our fight against terrorism but we can assure that we are on top of this matter.”

Asked why the government had refused to take the fight to the terrorists if actually their locations were known to the military as alleged by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Mohammed said: “I know that on Monday, there was a very successful area interjection, where scores of not hundreds of bandits/terrorists were eliminated.”

He, however, explained that the military may choose to not attack the terrorists at their location because of the fear of collateral damages to innocent civilians.

He insisted that the nation’s security agencies, including the police and military, were in control having taken delivery of sophisticated weapons needed to decimate the terrorists with more personnel recruited to boost their strength.