It was reported earlier that the violent clash ensued after the soldiers turned down an initial agreed offer of N500,000 per pit from the miners, and turned around to demand more money upon discovering the large quantum of gold nuggets found by the illegal miners in one of the pits.

Army spokesman, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu who described the claim as “baseless, unfounded, untrue and a mere figment of the writer’s imagination, aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the Nigerian Army”, urged members of the public to disregard reports suggesting that two soldiers and seven miners were killed during a gun duel arising from rifts over gold.

Onyema noted that troops deployed in the North West were committed and engrossed in the fight against banditry and other criminalities bedevilling the region. He added that soldiers deployed to fight insurgents are never permitted to participate in any form of mining, whether legitimate or illegitimate.

Onyema added “This is certainly not what the troops require at this critical time. We assure the general public of the unrelenting commitment of our troops to decisively tackling the banditry menace in the North West.”

Army spokesman, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu said the IPOB leader was arrested during joint clearance operations at a camp suspected to be the fortress of IPOB/ESN elements located at Akpowfu Forest in Nkanu LGA on Saturday, December 25.

During the clearance operation, troops engaged the dissidents in a firefight compelling them to take to their heels, leading to the arrest of their leader.

General Nwachukwu also said the troops recovered various items, including one AK 47 rifle, one magazine containing 21 rounds of 7. 62 mm special, and a mobile phone among others.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya has also commended the troops for the successes recorded thus far. Yahaya also charged the troops to comb and clear all suspected hideouts of criminal elements in their area of responsibility.

Spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu revealed that the terrorists were killed along Damboa-Bulabulin-Maiduguri road on Wednesday, August 31.

Troops recovered four AK 47 rifles and four Magazines, each loaded with 30 rounds of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition from the troops.

In another operation, troops of 195 Battalion, Sector 1 OPHK in conjunction with elements of Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) at Dusman-Muna Garage, Borno State eliminated two ISWAP terrorists in an ambush operation conducted along with an identified ISWAP terrorists’ crossing point at Musari village.

An ISWAP logistics vehicle conveying assorted goods and contraband items belonging to members of the terrorist group, was seized and destroyed.

The statement released on Thursday September 2 added “Items recovered from the terrorists’ vehicle include two bags of Hemp (Cannabis Sativa), two bags of detergent, 120 packets of mosquito coils, l2 mosquito nets, and five textile materials. Other items recovered are two bicycles, two bags of beans, a bag of corn, and some quantity of fish.”

Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya has commended the troops for their operational exploits and urged them to maintain the aggressive posture in order to decisively root out the terrorists from their enclaves.

Amnesty International were accused of deliberately supporting the acts of terrorism perpetrated against Nigeria by the Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African State (ISWAP) terror groups.

In a statement released by the Defence Headquarters’ Acting Director Defence Information Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, the non-governmental organization were accused of undermining Nigeria’s Military campaign against terrorism in the North East.

The statement reads “The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has taken cognizance of yet another falsified report by Amnesty International (AI) in a campaign of calumny targeting the Nigerian Military and deliberately supporting the callous acts of terrorism perpetuated by Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) and Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP). This inglorious campaign is contained in a recent report alleging employment of unlawful tactics of razing down villages and unlawful detention of locals by troops. This is line with the AIs usual mannerism and tenacious efforts aimed at disparaging the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN). The Defence Headquarters wishes to state unambiguously that the allegations being touted by AI are nothing but a betrayal of its lack of in-depth knowledge of the goings-on in the North East (NE) theatre of operation. It is expedient to state that troops of Operation Lafiya Dole who are conducting Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency Operations in the NE do not employ arson as an operational tactic. It is a well-known fact, going by the modus operandi of BHTs, that they have more often than not engaged in the atrocious acts of looting and burning of villages, as well as destroying infrastructures. It therefore, beats ones imagination that AI is attributing these atrocities to AFN troops who are legitimately defending the country guided by extant rules of engagement and operational codes of conduct. AI must understand the fact that Nigeria is at war against terrorism in the NE and that the troops have a constitutional mandate to protect lives and property, even if it means conducting an evacuation to save and secure lives of civilians in the conflict. Protecting civilians by evacuating them from the line of fire during combat is not a violation of the international law of conflict or a war crime. It is rather a commendable effort by the troops to prevent collateral damage during combat. Our troops should therefore be commended for making deliberate efforts to evacuate civilians in order to protect their lives and property. It is also crucial to point out, that troops deployed to fight terrorism in the NE do not attack or raze down villages, communities or settlements, rather they launch offensive on terrorists’ camps, enclaves and hide outs. Based on actionable intelligence, persons who provide logistics and other forms of support to the terrorists are arrested and subjected to thorough investigation by a combined team of professionals drawn from the intelligence community of the Armed Forces and other security agencies. Anyone not found culpable is not held in custody for further investigations. AI must therefore put an end to its reckless distortion of facts in its desperate bid to satisfy its puppeteers by undermining Nigeria’s Military campaign against terrorism in the NE. We urge members of the public to please discountenance AIs report, as it is not a true and realistic reflection of troops’ counter terrorism operation in the NE”