JTF kill three militants in Delta State

 THE Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, has said that three persons were shot dead and several wounded during a gun duel with suspected militants at Beniboye in Burutu Council Area of Delta.

Maj-Gen Alani Okunlola, JTF Commander disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday at the 3 Battalion, Effurrun, Delta.

While parading an arrested suspect with huge cache of arms and ammunitions,  Okunlola said the operation took place on September 5th.

According to him, ''My men raided a militant camp in Benigboye, the suspects on sighting the troops opened fire which led to a gun battle that lasted for 30 minutes before they succumbed to our superior fire power and fled the camp.

''In the follow up operation on Sept, 6, my troops on getting information on the hideout of the suspected militants that attacked Odimodi community launched search operation and apprehended one Ebiwame Lamia.

''During the preliminary investigation, the suspect confessed that he was in the camp during the previous raid and three persons died in the gun battle and many escaped with bullet wounds including their leader, Ayas Abdulraham,'' he said.

He said the JTF was in search of the fleeing suspects and urged people to assist the troops with useful information that could lead the arrest of the criminals.

Okunlola listed items recovered from the camp to include sophisticated weapons like Medium Machine Gun(MNG), AK 47 Light Machine Gun (LMG) and AK 47 automatic riffle.

Others were: Fabrique Nationals (    FN), SMG, G3 riffles,  one single barrel gun, 11 quantity of Improvise Explosive Divided (IEDs).

''We also recovered ID cards belonging to Orosco Kpasco, Iyadoufegha Nuwent, Clifford Ebikabowie and Emmanuel Stanley.

''An ATM card belonging to Mr Ingo Kpasco, a suspect that attacked Odimodi community recently was also recovered,'' he said.

He said the Camp was destroyed while the recovered arms and ammunitions were in the custody of Operation Pulo Shield.

The suspect, Lamia who said he was 17 years old also told newsmen that he was a cook in the camp of the militants.