Nigeria’s armed forces killed 662 terrorists and other criminal actors, arrested 1,084 suspects and rescued 951 kidnap victims nationwide over the second quarter of 2026, figures that point to a deliberate shift in strategy: arrests significantly outpaced killings, reflecting what Director of Defence Media Operations Major General Michael Onoja described as a growing focus on dismantling the collaborators, financiers, informants and logistics networks that keep criminal and terrorist groups running, not just the fighters themselves.
The North East remained the most active theatre. Under Operation Hadin Kai, troops killed 484 terrorists, arrested 370 suspects and rescued 595 kidnap victims, alongside the surrender of 38 fighters and their families. The quarter’s most notable single operation freed 360 civilians, mostly women and children, during a raid on the Mandara Mountains in Gwoza, Borno State. In the North West, Operation Fansan Yamma killed 77 terrorists, arrested 210 suspects and rescued 153 victims while intercepting arms traffickers across Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi and Zamfara states. Combined operations in the North Central under Operations Savannah Shield, Enduring Peace and Whirl Stroke killed 83 terrorists, led to 305 arrests and freed 183 kidnap victims, several missions aimed specifically at informants and collaborators. In the South East, Operation Udo Ka killed 12 terrorists, arrested 115 suspects and rescued 20 victims, alongside the arrest of senior separatist commanders and logistics figures. In the South South, Operation Delta Safe targeted economic crime rather than combat, killing six criminal elements, arresting 84 suspects, dismantling twelve illegal refining sites and recovering more than 464,000 litres of stolen petroleum, a significant blow to illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta. Onoja said the cumulative results, achieved through coordinated ground operations, air support and intelligence driven missions against Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province, the banned Indigenous People of Biafra and its armed wing the Eastern Security Network, kidnapping gangs and cross border arms traffickers, reflect a professional force working to restore stability nationwide
