Onyeuko added that four soldiers were also wounded during the encounter with the terrorists.
The Nigerian military has said a total of 78 persons, including 75 Boko Haram/Islamic State of West African Province fighters and three soldiers have been killed in an ongoing subsidiary operation in the North-East
Brigadier General Benard Onyeuko, Director, Defence Media Operations, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.
Onyeuko added that four soldiers were also wounded during the encounter with the terrorists.
The statement reads, “Sequel to the commencement of Operation FIRE BALL, a subsidiary operation under Operation LAFIYA DOLE which is meant to clear the remnants of the Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province terrorists from their identified enclaves in the North-East region, the operation has recorded tremendous successes within the short period from its existence with the last week of the preceding month proving to be the deadliest against the criminals.
“Consequently, as a result of the aggressive offensive action carried out by the troops, several terrorist elements have been neutralized as a large number of their equipment were captured while some were equally destroyed in the process.
“In this regard, a total of 75 Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists were neutralized within this period.
“The captured weapons include: six gun trucks, four anti-aircraft guns, one PKT gun, one general purpose machine gun, one automatic grenade launcher, one Dushka gun, one light machine gun, 48 AK 47 rifles, one locally made pistol and 10 AK 47 magazines.
“Furthermore, a large cache of ammunition was captured also. This include: one 36 hand grenade, 567 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition, 448 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition, 50 rocket propelled grenade bombs, 17 locally manufactured rounds, 3 shells for making improvised explosive devices, one smoke grenade and two belts of PKT rounds. Other assorted non-lethal items were also captured from the criminals.
“Regrettably, one officer and two gallant soldiers paid the supreme price while four other soldiers were wounded in action over the period. However, the wounded soldiers have since been evacuated to a military medical facility and are currently responding to treatment.”