The Joint Task Force yesterday launched another major offensive with a helicopter gunship; land troops and amphibious men aimed at dislodging militants and cultists from their camps in the creeks at Ogbogoro, Rivers State.
The casualty figures and arrests were not however available as Major Musa Sagir, the spokesman of JTF insisted the exercise was still ongoing and that they were yet to take stock.
Villagers had called THISDAY to complain that JTF was carrying out an aerial bombardment of their community, claiming further that many bombs were exploded by the soldiers in their fight with the hoodlums.
While Sagir admitted that their men were continuing operations in the area, he however denied that they exploded any bombs but pointed out that when people saw the helicopter being used for reconnaissance, they mistook the sound made by the chopper as that of detonated bombs.
He explained that they could not have dropped bombs due to the damage that kind of bombardment can cause and which they were avoiding since there are civilians in the community.
On how the operation started, Sagir said they received intelligence reports that the camps of the cultists and militants were in the creeks of Ogbogoro. He said when they carried out reconnaissance of the area and confirmed the information, they had to plan the attack.
He said, �following the killing of the chiefs at Ogbogoro community, we went on to cordon and search the community. We now got an intelligence report which indicated that for us to successfully dislodge these militants from that side in particular, there was a need for us to go in through one forest by the left, near a river.
This is where these militants regroup and it is where their camp has been in existence for long. It is also the likely spot where a white man was killed.
�We now moved to the place and saw it was true they were living there. This is why JTF is now attacking that position with a view to arresting and interrogating them. It is also with a view to getting more information that we will use in dislodging them after which we shall hand them over to the police to be tried by the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.�
On the allegation that the JTF was using helicopters to bombard the community, Sagir said it is untrue, stating, �in the process of our operations, we are always mindful of collateral damage.
�What we used the aircraft for is reconnaissance. We are not at war with the people so we cannot bombard the place. You know when people hear the sound of General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG) they will think it is a bomb.�
Sagir added that the helicopter was offering cover for the ground troops as well as being used for reconnaissance and not for striking the community.
The JTF had carried out other operations in the area earlier with Gov-ernor Celestine Omehia of Rivers State, stating that human heads, skulls and dead women without some of their private organs being discovered there. They also recovered the remains of an expatriate floating in the river before the latest onslaught.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Luka Yusuf had promised recently that JTF was going to take the war against the cultists and militants to the suburbs and creeks soon with the attack on Ogbogoro being a primary target.
Sep152007