[Guardian Ng] The Military Joint Task Force (JTF) Saturday said it was "not certain" of reporting killing of seven foreign hostages by the Ansar al-Muslimeen (widely known as Ansaru), a splinter group of the Boko Haram sect.The militant group announced the deaths of seven workers from a construction company, who had been taken hostage last month. It reportedly released video stills of some of the bodies and blamed the deaths on a joint Nigerian-British military operation intended to free the hostages. There was no immediate word from those governments.
The militants, on February 18, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the seven construction workers taken from their office in the Northeast.
An e-mail from Ansaru said it took the hostages two days earlier because of "transgression and atrocities" against Islam in Afghanistan, Mali and other locations.
Those kidnapped, included workers from Italy, Greece, Britain and Lebanon.
Gunmen took the workers from the offices of Setraco, a construction company in Jama'are, in Bauchi State, according to the Police.
The company is based in Abuja and is involved in many major road construction projects in northern Nigeria.
Last night, JTF's Spokesman, Lt Col Sagir Musa, told The Guardian that he was not "certain" of the report, adding that "it is not in my Area of Responsibility (AOR)."
The Guardian had tried to reach Spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Frank Mba, a chief superintendent of police (CSP) but the calls rang out. A text message sent to his mobile phone on the matter was not responded to as at the time of filing the report.
Meanwhile, the JTF in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, Saturday, said it killed 52 Boko Haram sect members, including 10 commanders in the last 10 days.
It carried out the operation in the Zajeri, Bulabulin and Bayan wards of the metropolis.
In a cordon-and-search mission, 70 suspected terrorists were also arrested in various parts of the wards, which are located two kilometres North-East of JTF headquarters.
The Friday operation that lasted over five hours, according to JTF sources, led to the discovery of a cache of arms and ammunition at a compound in Zajeri at about 7pm.
They include 28 rifles, 47 magazines, 20 Rapid Propelled Grenades and 11, 068 rounds of ammunition.
Displaying the terrorists' weapons and three operational Toyota Hilux vehicles to reporters yesterday, JTF spokesman, Lt. Col Sagir Musa, said the seizure, which includes three antiaircraft guns, is the largest ever made.
Other items include General Propelled Grenades (GPG) guns, G3 rifles, 10 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) tubes, 17 Kalashnikov rifles, 20 RPG bombs, 12 RPG chargers, 1x36 hand-held grenades, a teargas rifle, 33 AK 47 magazines, 11 FN magazines, 3 G3 magazines, box of weapons cleaning kit, two technical vehicles with mounted anti aircraft stands, four swords and two knives, five units of walkie-talkies, four VHF hand-held sets, a router and assorted uniforms and kits.
The JTF statement reads in part: "based on information and intelligence report, series of operations were conducted by the Joint Task Force's Operation 'Restore Order' in the last 10 days in Borno State.
The latest was conducted at Bulabulin, Bayern Quarters and Zajeri in Maiduguri metropolis between 3-8pm on Friday. During these operations, there were exchanges of fire that led to the death of 52 Boko Haram terrorists, including 10 commanders of the sect. 70 terrorists were also arrested.
"In the period under review, the JTF lost two personnel, three were wounded and no civilian casualty was recorded.