after soldiers retook the town from the insurgents.
Islamist fighters captured the
town in Yobe state in August last year as the group seized swathes of
territory in the crisis-hit northeast.
The military announced that it had wrested back control last Saturday.
Defence
spokesman Chris Olukolade said that search operations in the area led
to the discovery of the bomb-making factory manufacturing improvised
explosive devices or IEDs.
"A
large quantity of IEDs, including those commonly used by suicide
bombers were recovered from the site," he added in an emailed statement.
"The
factory, which was located in a fertiliser company, has also converted
some of the materials therein for production of all types of IEDs.
"Troops
are still evacuating the materials which include a large quantity of
suicide bomber vests from the facility to their base."
Boko
Haram has increasingly used suicide attacks in its six-year campaign to
create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.
Women
and young girls with explosives vests strapped to their bodies have
been sent into crowded markets and bus stations, causing mass
casualties.
Roadside bombs --
a tactic seen widely in Iraq and Afghanistan by Al-Qaeda-linked
militants -- have also been found buried in the ground.
Olukolade
said four soldiers were killed by IEDs during the operation to retake
Buni Yadi and the advance was delayed because the devices were planted
on the road leading into the town.
Nigeria's
military, assisted by soldiers from Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well
as South African mercenaries, have made major gains against Boko Haram
in recent weeks.
The
operation is designed to secure and stabilise the northeast in time for
elections to take place in two weeks' time at which President Goodluck
Jonathan is seeking re-election.
Olukolade
said the discovery of the bomb-making factory "is expected to degrade
the capability of terrorists in the production of explosives, which they
have been using lavishly in the area".
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