The Nigerian joint military task force (JTF) carried out a land, air, and marine assault in the Niger Delta, freeing 19 hostages and raiding two suspected criminal camps after several kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities.
“At the moment we have ongoing operations in several locations simultaneously,” JTF spokesman Timothy Antigha was earlier quoted by Reuters as saying before the hostages were freed.
The military had warned on Saturday it planned to carry out raids on suspected criminal camps in the Niger Delta and told civilians in the vicinity to leave.
A major military offensive would be the first in the heartland since an amnesty brokered by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua began in August 2009.
