Fidelis Soriwei
Indications emerged on Monday that the nine under-aged Boko Haram insurgents, whose pictures were released among the 100 most wanted members of the deadly sect, might have committed heinous acts against humanity.
Also, an unnamed police officer has said that one of the underaged Boko Haram members, whose photographs were released by the military, is his missing child.
A senior security personnel, who confided in our correspondent, said that intelligence officers embarked on a painstaking process to arrive at the final release of the pictures alongside those of the leaders of the sect.
It was learnt that some of the kids were also sighted with arms and ammunition in classified pictures and videos obtained by security operatives.
The source said that some of the boys were sighted with human limbs of victims they allegedly killed while in action.
It was further gathered that the release of the photographs had culminated in the startling revelation by a police officer that one of the children belonged to him.
The source added that the release of the pictures was meant to serve the purpose of preventing the free movement of members of the sect.
The children are listed under 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85 and 99 in the 100 pictures of insurgents released by the Nigerian Army on October 29, 2015.
The source said, “Nigerians should not be agitated about these pictures. The military authorities are not passing a sentence on the kids.
“They are declared wanted because they have committed heinous acts against humanity. All these people were caught with weapons. Some of them carried out gory activities too unpleasant to mention.
“The pictures are very necessary and they are serving a strong purpose. Do you know that a policeman saw his child among them?
“Many parents don’t even know that their children are now fighting on the side of Boko Haram. The security agencies went a long way to get these pictures for a purpose.
“The military is going after them to arrest the minors, not to kill them. The motive is to prevent them from carrying out further acts against humanity.”
When contacted, the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said that the military decided to release the pictures of the children alongside others in order to apprehend them and to prevent them from carrying out further acts against innocent Nigerians.
He admitted that those whose pictures were released committed grave acts against innocent Nigerians and should be prevented from further destructive acts.
He urged Nigerians to cooperate with the security operatives in the search for the insurgents, by volunteering information that could be used to arrest them.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army said that it had cleared a suspected Boko Haram camp in Duwabafi village, Borno State.
A statement by the Army in Maiduguri stated, “In continuation of the fight against Boko Haram terrorists on Sunday, troops of 243 Battalion, 5 Brigade, Nigerian Army, on fighting patrol, encountered some suspected elements of the terrorists holed up at a Primary School in Duwabafi village in Borno. The troops killed four suspected terrorists in a gun battle, recovered two Ak-47 rifles, four various sizes of solar energy panels, different types of drugs and five motorcycles,” the statement added.
It stated that the patrol had returned to base and to further restrategise for more onslaughts on all remaining vestiges of Boko Haram elements within the area.
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