Nigerian Army recovers 21 additional bodies of oil exploration crew

TheĀ  Nigerian Army confirmed on Sunday, that it had recovered 21 additional bodies in an operation to rescue oil exploration crew abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno.

A statement signed by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sani Kukasheka, released in Maiduguri, said that the army recovered vehicles and various calibres of weapons in the operation.

ā€œSo far, the search and rescue team has recovered additional bodies of five soldiers, 11 members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) and five members of the exploration team.

ā€œContrary to reports in some media, six out of the 12 members of the exploration team that went out are still missing, while one of the NNPC members of staff returned to base alive,ā€ Kukasheka said

Kukasheka, who described the incident as unfortunate, said that the error emanated from the statement issued by the army on the rescue mission was not ā€˜deliberate.ā€™

Osinbajo, in a statement issued by the spokesman to the Acting President, Mr. Laolu Akande on Sunday in Abuja, condemned theĀ  attack and the abduction of the oil exploration workers, soldiers and members of the civilian JTF.

Osinbajo also met again on Saturday night with the nationā€™s security chiefs in continuation of governmentā€™s efforts aimed at rescuing all those abducted oil workers.

Akande disclosed this in a message he posted on hisĀ TwitterĀ handle on Sunday.

Osinbajo had last Thursday met with the service chiefs on the same issue.

Akande listed those who attended the latest meeting with Osinbajo to include all the service chiefs; the Inspector-General of Police, Idris Ibrahim; the Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura; and the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )