One Of The Boko Haram Leader Arrested By US Army + 70 Insurgents Killed By Military [PHOTO]

The Nigerian military has been recording a string of victories
recently against the deadly Boko Haram sect in response to the
recent upsurge in the activities of the group.
On Thursday evening, a top leader of the sect was captured by
soldiers, and about 70 insurgents were killed by at the sect’s
stronghold in Gwoza Hills, Borno State.
Here’s how The Punch reported the story below
:
The leader was arrested on Thursday evening while he
was trying to flee the bombarded Gwoza Hills with
some black Toyota Land Cruiser sports utility vehicle
in his escort.
It was learnt that the Special Forces captured him
alive and flew him immediately out of Borno State to
Abuja for interrogation in one of the military
formations in Abuja.
A source, who confided in our correspondent, said that
the arrest of the man suspected to be one of the
topmost commanders of the sect (if not the leader),
had triggered anxiety among security agents in Borno
State.
Security officials were of the view that the captured
Boko Haram leader might be a very key person to the
operation of the sect for him to have such a massive
and luxurious escort comprising Toyota Land Cruiser
vehicles.
The source said, “On Thursday, soldiers arrested a top
member of the Boko Haram around the Gwoza Hills
after the battle of Wednesday night when troop took
over the hills.
“The Boko Haram member must be a very high
ranking member of the group if not the head because
he had several Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps in his escort
when he was captured.
“Another thing is that they didn’t want anybody to
know his identity; the commanders immediately flew
the man to Abuja; as we are talking, the man is being
interrogated there. A highly placed security source
confirmed the arrest of the Boko Haram leader but
would not make any further comment on the issue.
Investigations further revealed that troops killed over
70 insurgents at Bita community in Gwoza Local
Government Area of Borno State and Bama
headquarters of Bama Local Government Area of
Borno State.
The insurgents were said to have been killed in two
different gun duels with troops at Bita and Bama
where Armoured Personnel Carriers and military
tanks were fully deployed for the combat on Thursday.
Investigation revealed that the soldiers attacked the
insurgents when they were moving to launch an attack
on Bita community a day after troops overran their
Gwoza Hills enclave on Wednesday.
The source said that some soldiers sustained gunshot
wounds and were being treated at a hospital in
Maiduguri. It was learnt that some other insurgents
were killed also on Thursday evening on their way to
Bama after the first encounter which resulted in the
killing of over 40 members of the sect.
It was gathered that the special forces waited for the
convoy of the insurgents on their way to Bama when an
intelligence report was received that they (the
insurgents) were on their way to launch another attack
in Bama.
A security source said that the insurgents were moving
in 15 trucks loaded with fighters when they ran into
the ambush of the troops.
The source said that the troops destroyed seven of the
trucks which caught fire and killed about 30 of the
insurgents.”
However, it was stated that the insurgents escaped
with eight of the vehicles in the convoy.
When our correspondent contacted the Director of
Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, he
confirmed the deployment of APCs and military tanks
but asked to be given more time to confirm the
capture of the Boko Haram commander and those
killed in the two battles.
“That APCs and military tanks were deployed is no
news but you have to give me some time to confirm
this story from the relevant places,” he said.
However, Olukolade said that the troops arrested a
middle-aged Cameroonian who served as the arms
courier for the sect.
He said that the arrest of the Cameroonian led to the
discovery of a large cache of arms and ammunition
which was hidden in the premises of a burnt church.
Olukolade said that weapons recovered from the
insurgents in the premises of the church in Kalabalge
Local Government Area of Borno State included anti-
aircraft guns, rocket-propelled guns, other brands of
machine guns and thousands of various calibres of
rounds of ammunition.
He said that the Cameroonian led troops on a cordon
and search operation to a hideout where a terrorist
was captured. He was silent on the rank of this
particular terrorist whose singular arrest featured in
his news statement.