Troops engage Boko Haram fighters in fierce battle in Borno

Soldiers of the Nigerian Army are currently engaging fighters of the

dreaded sect, Boko Haram in a fierce gun battle at strategic Bita town near Gwoza in Borno state.

The clash, it was gathered, started on Monday night when fighters of Boko Hartam, in an attempt to re-capture Gwoza raided a military facility at Bita.

The terrorists, however met stiff resistance from troops of the Nigerian military as the face-off lasted all night and continued till the early hours of Tuesday.

In order to boost the morale of the already overwhelmed ground soldiers, the military had to deploy fighter jets from Yola, Adamawa State capital.

A source close to the ongoing war scene disclosed that the quick response by the jets was a big relief to the troops.

In a related development, a Boko Haram suspect, identified as Muktar Umar, who allegedly fled Maiduguri, has been paraded by the Ogun State Police Command after he was captured in Kara area of Ifo Local Government Area of the state.

Confirming his apprehension on Monday, the state commissioner of police, Abdulmajid Ali, said the 22-year-old Umar fled the insurgents’ base, following the “heat being experienced” by them in the hands of the joint military task force.

The police chief, who disclosed that the suspect was apprehended following a tip-off, added that Umar sneaked out of Maiduguri to Isheri area of Lagos State as his first contact and thereafter relocated to Kara community along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway‎, where the police arrested him.