Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said troops of 21 Brigade and Armed Forces Special Forces (AFSF) on Operation Crackdown inside Sambisa forest while on harbour for refitting came under Boko Haram militants attack   at about 1.45am today morning.

However, Usman said the troops successfully repelled the attack followed up with mopping up operations of the general area before advancing.

He said they also recovered two corpses of the attackers, two AK-47 rifles, two Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) bombs, five rifle magazines, mortar bombs and belts of Machine Gun rounds.

Usman said: “Unfortunately 5 soldiers were wounded in action (WIA), as a result of mortar fired into the harbour area by the Boko Haram terrorists.  The wounded soldiers have been evacuated to the rear for treatment.”

In another statement on Saturday Usman said troops also arrested a wanted Boko Haram militant’s leader deep inside Sambisa forest.

He said troops arrested one of the declared wanted Boko Haram leaders, and also conducted patrols and clearance operations within the theatre of operations.

Usman said at about 1.35pm on Friday troops of 143 Battalion arrested one Sulaiman Umaru, a suspected Boko Haram group member whose photograph is on the poster containing the photographs of the 100 Boko Haram member declared wanted.

Usman said Umaru has since been moved to 28 Task Force Brigade Headquarters for further investigation.

He said some elements of 112 Task Force Battalion conducted a fighting patrol along Dikwa-Gulumba Gana road, and engaged in a fierce fire fight with some Boko Haram members during which the troops killed quite a number of the Boko Haram members.