Boko Haram insurgents are said to have ran out of arms and ammunitions as Nigeria troops continue to lay final onslaught on their hideouts.
This has been confirmed by escapee, military sources and residents in the area.
The Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade confirmed to newsmen in Abuja yesterday that ground troops with support from air strikes have stormed the forest, smoking the terrorists out of their hideouts.
Also, 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 stated.
According to him, “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 resident of Yamtake village told Vanguard that, “As a result of the recent aerial bombardment on the Sambiza Forest, many of the sect members including their commanders have fled into the nearby bushes in Yamtake.
The Nigerian Army on Saturday landed in the dreaded and expansive Sambisa forest with the possibility of finding and rescuing the abducted Chibok girls from the Boko Haram terrorists.
The operation to liberate the terrorist enclave may not last more than one week as most of the strikes and special operations have knocked out the enemy defence systems.
According to a military source, the sustained aerial bombardment by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) for weeks now have now made it possible for the Army to move in for ground operation.
“The operation is nearing its conclusion and the Army will be moving in tomorrow (Saturday) and I am sure in a matter of days, if plans go accordingly, the operations will be over.
The source further confirmed that even though there is no concrete evidence that the Chibok girls were in the forest, it will however be the top priority of the military to find and rescue them if that should be the reality.
According to the source, “the fear is that some of the girls might be amongst the women killed in Bama and other parts of the liberated towns, and Sambisa offers the more viable hope of all the remaining options to rescue the girls”.
It could be recalled that the Nigerian Military in the last eight weeks of sustained offensive have recaptured over 90 per cent of the territories that were once under Boko Haram occupation with the exception of Sambisa forest.
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