Troops clear camps of armed gangs in Benue

The military on Thursday said that troops deployed to Benue State had already cleared camps of all armed gangs in three local governments areas of the state.
This was contained in a statement issued by Major General Chris Olukolade, the Director of Defence Information, in Abuja.
According to the statement, normalcy has been restored in Guma, Gwer-West and Agatu Local Government Areas, while some arrests and recoveries have been made in the process.
Olukolade said: “Formation Commanders of the Nigerian Army have moved to the various states in their area of responsibility to address the deteriorating security situation in parts of the North-Central.
“Tagged ‘Operation Restore Peace’, the mission has also resulted in the destruction of militant camps, arrests as well as recovery of arms in Shendam Area of Plateau State.
“Two AK 47 rifles were recovered after an encounter by troops of the Special Task Force with the armed gangs in their enclaves in Shimanker, Plateau State.
“Some militants camps in Ladduga, near Kachia, Kaduna State, were destroyed while arms were recovered in Maigungume Hills in Niger State.”
Olukolade said that General Officers Commanding were directly supervising the operations in Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Niger States.
He added that troops were combing forests in the mission areas to apprehend members of armed gangs and destroy their enclaves.