ABUJA, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's security forces acting on intelligence report have nabbed three Chadians suspected to have strong links with terror group Boko Haram, a military spokesman said on Monday.
The foreigners were arrested on Sunday in a joint raid by the Nigerian army and the secret police in the northeastern state of Gombe, Sani Usman, spokesman of the army told reporters.
The trio - respectively identified as Bilal Muhammed Umar, Bashir Muhammed and Muhammed Maigari Abubakar, were in possession of improvised explosive devices as of the time of arrest, Usman said.
The Nigerian security forces suspected an attack in the offing when they acted on an intelligence report which led them to the suspected terrorists' hideout at Arawa and Mallam Inna areas of the northern state.
A preliminary investigation showed that the arrested foreigners belonged to a faction of the Nigeria-based Boko Haram group, according to the army spokesman.
One of the suspects, Umar, was shot in the leg as he attempted to escape during the raid by security forces, he said, adding the suspect is responding to treatment due to the bullet wound.
The Boko Haram insurgency has been blamed for more than 20,000 deaths and displacement of 2.3 million people since 2009.
Nigeria has made a considerable gain on the Boko Haram front, with its security forces operating in the restive region dislodging the Boko Haram fighters from the Sambisa Forest, the group's largest training camp in the country, last December.
The security forces are intensifying aerial and ground patrol in the country's northeast, extending their offensive mission around the Green Belt Region near Niger and Chad.
