Nigeria Delta- Major - General Sarikin Y. Bello, the commander of the Joint Task Force on the Niger Delta says the task force will go after retired military Generals and other military officers involved in oil bunkering in the Niger-Delta with a view to bringing them to book. Speaking to newsmen in Warri, MOnday, Major General Bello who was flanked by his deputy, Brigadier -General Nanven Rimtip said, "I assure you, forget about whether ex-Generals are

involved or not , we will bring them to book. It is going to be one of the priorities of new Niger Delta JTF".

The Niger delta JTF boss who was in Warri to see the officers and men of the Delta State Command of the task force said the process of the take-off of the new JTF was on.

Under the new structure, which saw the Operation Flush III in Rivers State and Operation Restore Hope in Warri fusing to become a central Joint Task Force on the Niger-Delta, retaining the acronym, Operation Restore Hope, he said there would be three sector commands in Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa States.

The erstwhile Commander of the Niger Delta JTF in Warri, Brigadier-General Rimtip is now in-charge of the Land (Army) component of the task force. There will also be other senior officers in charge of the Navy and Air components officers in the rank of Colonel would head the three sector commands.

For Delta State, Colonel A Mohammed is the head. Colonel Yekini heads the Bayelsa command while Colonel Victor Ezeogu takes control of Rivers state.

Major-General Bello said the Niger Delta JTF was happy with the shut- down order on militant camps in Bayelsa state by the Ijaw Youth Council and would want to partner with such groups, but, it would not hesitate to respond fire for fire on any group that destroys oil installations belonging to the government.

His words, "Any attack or any of our security forces would be followed with appropriate retaliation. We will not go out of our way to attack militants but when they attack us, it will be met with appropriate response", he said.

Major-General Bello said the claim by some militant groups that the Niger Delta JTF was carrying out indiscriminate attacks on their camps was unfounded, as the task force do not launch any attack on militants without reason to do so.