No fewer than 70 suspected terrorists, including three commanders, were killed in a clearance operation conducted by troops of Operation Hadin Kai within the Timbuktu Triangle in the North East theatre, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) revealed on Sunday.

It, however, regretted the killing in action of 22 soldiers, with “several others” sustaining varying degrees of injuries.

A statement signed by the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj-Gen. Edward Buba reads: “The three-prong operation aimed at dismantling the terrorist presence with triangle commenced on 16 Jan 25 till date.

“Troops recorded several encounters with terrorists during the course of the clearance operations which resulted in over 70 terrorists combatants including 3 notable terrorist commanders neutralized.

“The terrorist commanders neutralised include and are not limited to the following: TALHA (Terrorist Special Forces Commander), Mallam UMAR (Terrorist Operations commander) and ⁠ABU YAZEED (Terrorist Brigade Commander).

“Meanwhile during the operations, the terrorists deployed Improvised Explosive Devices( IEDs), Person Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (suicide bombers) as well as Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (suicide bombers in explosive vehicles) to ward off troops’ advance and attacks.

“Troops already familiar with the terrorist tactics thwarted the several terrorist attempts, including shooting down the amateur drones used by the terrorist”.

He added thus: “Overall, during the course of the operations, troops sadly recorded 22 killed in action casualties with several others wounded in action.

“On this account, the media is enjoined to resist publishing names of troop casualties to allow the formal notification of their next of kin.

“On the whole, the operation is ongoing and the public will be updated on further developments in due course”.