Troops at a camp near Marte from which militants were dislodged.
Hooded and battle-seasoned: an operative of the Police Counter Terrorist Unit stands in front of an Army Landcruiser vehicle at Marte
Men of the Police Counter Terrorist Unit at the same site near Marte
A soldier on duty at a Maiduguri military base
Journalists look at arms and ammunition which military commanders say they previously seized from Islamic fighters in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Wednesday,June 5, 2013.On Wednesday, the military flew foreign and local journalists from Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to Maiduguri in Borno state as part of a tour of one battleground area.
Police officers stand in front of the
burned-out police station in Marte,Nigeria, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013. Just as quickly as Islamist extremists rose out of the desert scrub several months ago, however, they recently disappeared as Nigeria’s military regained control of this area as part of a new offensive. As attack helicopters hovered overhead and tanks hid among the scrawny trees, military commanders told journalists touring the region Wednesday that they had struck a decisive blow against radicals who want to impose strict Islamic law over this multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
The people of Kirenowa gather to meet with the visitors.
Women wait to draw water from a well
in Kerinowa, Nigeria, on Wednesday,
June 5, 2013. Nigeria’s military took
journalists on a tour Wednesday of one of the areas where it fought Islamic
extremists as part of a new offensive targeting radicals. While Nigeria’s
military has had success taking back
territory, its soldiers will likely need to
remain in the region for years to make
sure extremists who slipped away don’t
attack again
SOURCE
Beegeagle's Blog 
Congratulations on this. Its a win win situation. A mix of local and foreign press. Lets see wat they all would report.
On a side note..my wife put to bed today. Bouncing baby girl. Mum and Baby doing great.
oh boy OGA optimusprime007. Congrats in about 20 years time to the day we expect our first blog from the baby on beegeagle’s blog.
Congrats optimusprime…..invite us to come shack beer and chop rice on naming ceremony day oh.
Thanks Gen Jimmy…..She would be the first female Nigerian to go to the moon!!!
GenTim…..Na Champagne for u all through….in exchange for more insider info…lol..Thanks a lot brother
@optimusprime007, congrats bro!
I apprci8 Oga Obix…tanx a zillion
Congrats PAPA
Congrats u ve made a man out of yourself.. Good aniocha wine should flow uninterruptedly. But 1st of all thanks given should be made. As the lord has once again suprised us with his blessings.( oh boy! No plan moon for that girl oh. Before u go make mistake name am monica.)
Hahahahaha…Thanks Gen Camouflage
Belated congrats my General. May she grow and develop in a saner Nigeria
🙂 CONGRATS, 007. You don score again! More blessings, my brother.
Marshal Beeg…na u teach me na…I get vry good sensei…..lol….Please kindly tell me backstage what u want done to that our mutual ish
Great photos. That is the ONLY thing I respect AP for. Otherwise, they CAN be quite pathetic 🙂
Elsewhere, BEEGEAGLE WROTE:
August 31, 2012 at 1:49am
If it is coverage, Reuters, Xinhua and AFP
are okay. AP have great photos but that is all. Jon Gambrell is characteristically
negative and downright scathing for the
heck of it. He gets too personal to allow
for balanced coverage…I only do AP for the heck of it. They sound more like
compromised activists than dispassionate journalists.”
Congratulations optimusprime007!
1st and 3rd pix are excellent battle damage assessment denoting ground engagement.
Thanks Gen Xnurr…I apprci8
Congrats OGA optimusprime007. wishing you, your lovely wife and the beautiful child a a long, healthy and happy life ahead.
Gen Henry…u do well oooh..
do i see bows and arrows in one picture? BH still uses that sometimes? Or is it for hunting?
For most kids growing up in the open plains of rural Northern Nigeria, the bow and arrow is a rite of passage.
Great job. Now this is what we’ve been preaching. Take them to the “liberated” areas, let them feel free to talk to the locals. The propaganda war has to be won as well!
J.A.Z, Oga Asorockweb is right. Those are traditional weapons which are an intergral part of a man’s belongings. The ownership of those is, in a manner of speaking, a cultural norm. Same way that people in the Far North like to sit on mats and rugs laid on the ground rather than on seats. Some of the rugs are expensive enough to pay for settees to fill up two living rooms but they would rather sit on the ground as a matter of cultural practice while the Emir seats higher than everyone else on his throne. You can see that from the photos above.
On Nigerian television, it is not uncommon to see the Vice President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and former Heads of State such as Generals Buhari, Babangida and Abdulsalaam Abubakar seated this way at social and cultural events held indoors.
In Yemen, you find that men have daggers strapped to their bodies and in South Africa’s Zululand, men wield the spear and shield. That does not mean that AQAP do not use AK47 rifles in tandem. Same way that militants of the Inkatha Freedom Party also owned rifles in tandem during the pre-election violence of the early 1990s which pitted IFP militants against their ANC counterparts,
Mind you, those are poison-tipped arrows. No antidote for any contact with body fluids.
Congratulations and wishing you the best,optimusprime007
Thanks a bunch Gen Number one..
Congratulations oh Oga Optimusprime007, may she live in boring times!
Gen Pecavvi…Shun…i stand as i was…Thanks a zillion.
Congrats Oga optimusprime007. We all have reason to celebrate and be happy. I hope by the time she is old enough, there will be no Boko Haram.
This is a nice move by JTF. i am sure foreign journalist are not convinced.
Gen Bomber…Yes oooh….Nigerian Military and Political leaders need to settle this once and for all…Thank you very much
Foreign Journalists just want permission to run Independent checks and believe u me they will be only speaking to people who have sympathy to Boko Haram because of Economic Hardship they are or not facing. Our Local Press should be given the choiciest news and others piggy back from them.
Oga Optimus Prime, We thank God o! May she grow to be a beautiful and lovely woman, meanwhile na Harp be my brand o! 🙂
Let the FG dictate the tone my own opinion
My 007sake, CONGRATS! U 2 MUCH! Wish you and your family endless smiles. CHILDREN ARE A GIFT FROM JAH! 10 GBOZA 4 JTF. I HAIL OOO
Gen Donian007..i have my eyes on u bro….Thanks a lot bro
Gen Tope…Harp for happiness…I don keep one drum for you ooh…Thanks brother
Oga Henry, how far la, backstage, damn dos southafricans!
@donian007Leave those people
More from Jon
http://www.apimages.com/Search?query=%22jon+gambrell%22+%22view+from+the+front%22&ss=10&st=kw&entitysearch=&toItem=15&orderBy=Newest
There is a very interesting picture of an armoured vehicle with a very long gun. Anyone knows what that is?
That’s a panhad VBL and a GPMG mounted on it.
Gen Henry…are u referring to the 9th pic counting from left to right from the top?
Ain’t that the ERC 90 sagaie of sierra leone fame ?. The french have also made it famous in ivory coast, chad and mali in recent times.
Optimus, congrats. It’s not easy. May your princess bring you and her mother nothing but joy.
@ Gen doziex. That’s the French-made Panhard ERC 90 Sagaie, armoured allterain+amphibious. The main gun is a 90mm f4 gun.
It apears Will Ross spent the time given to him during the tour on terrorizing the villagers, this is one of the things he told them: “The Nigerian army tried to crush the Islamist militants in 2009 but the group came back stronger with more deadly attacks. So do people think Boko Haram can return to the area?” As you can see that is a sentence meant to terrify the villagers and to make them uncooperatif with the Army. A boko haram member couldn’t have said any thing better to the gullible villagers for the terrorist network.
That’s Jon Gambrell beside Olukolade
@ GEn Optimus….Congratulations a plenty. we dey come your house come chop rice o!
@ Gens Henry & Donian,…LCP “homerac7” reporting sirs! 😀
Greetings
Gen Nnamdi…RSVP…Rice and stew very plenty…ur welcome ..Thanks Bro
Best of wishes to the newborn. And congrats to the parents.
Here comes some other good news:
Thanks Gen Igbi….God bless
Thank you Gen IGBI. this is very good news.
Here’s another report by the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22811995
No, my mistake. I was referring to the 5th picture in the first roll, counting from left to right.
While he was referring to the french made sagie, which is the 9th photo. The french have them deployed in mali.
@Nnamdi. U’re on point.
7 salvos for Optimusprime. Congrats.
Since the mis interpretation and deliberate skewing of information after the Baga incident by foreign media, I can say that the DHQ has learnt its lesson. Though the management of information during this offensive wasn’t the best, it wasn’t lack luster either. I’ll give the high command a pass mark on this one. Colour me impressed. I hope Aljazeera wasn’t on this tour.
Optimusprime, I’ve been off blog just to come backb and see this great news. Congratulations to you and ur wife. Pls kiss the little lady for me. Cheers
Apparently, Al Jazeera got bounced from the party :-). About time too.
Congrats to 007, may her life bring glory and fame to you and to Nigeria