Soldiers foil B’Haram’s attacks on Borno towns

The men of the Nigerian Army have repelled two attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents on Marte and Mafa, two local government headquarters in Borno State.Investigations revealed that the soldiers killed many of the terrorists and captured others who were being held in military detention facilities.An intelligence source, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said that the attacks on Marte and Mafa took place on Friday and Saturday respectively and were effectively repelled by the Special Forces on duty.It was further stated that the soldiers seized several weapons, arms and ammunition from the fleeing terrorists.The source said, “The insurgents attacked Marte and Mafa at the weekend but could not take control of the towns; they were repelled by the soldiers who killed many of them.“The soldiers also captured many weapons, vehicles, arms and ammunition from the terrorists.“I cannot give you the exact casualty figure but I can tell you confidently that the soldiers chased them away from the two towns.”The two council headquarters, which were under the control of the insurgents, were recovered by the Special Forces who also recaptured Bama and Gwoza in March 2015.There were reports in a section of the media that the insurgents overpowered soldiers and recaptured Marte after a night of fighting on Friday.But the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, denied the claim on Monday, saying that the headquarters of the two local government areas were not under the control of the insurgents.Olukolade, who confirmed that while there were attacks on Marte and Mafa, added that they were repelledby the troops.He said that the troops killed an unspecified number of insurgents and captured others.Olukolade added that the reports that the insurgents had taken over the two council headquarters were sponsored by sympathisers of Boko Haram who wanted them to return.