Nigeria's new army chief drove to the front line of the war on Boko Haram and narrowly missed an ambush that killed one soldier and wounded two, ABC News reported on Saturday.

The ambushed advance team nonetheless gunned down five insurgents and arrested five from Maiduguri, the northeastern city where Nigeria's Islamic uprising was born.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai stopped at Mafa to tell troops of the 112 Battalion to "keep on with the good job" of forcing out the insurgents and urging them on because "there is more work to be done."

A few kilometers down the road, soldiers with binoculars spotted insurgents hiding in a herd of cattle. Buratai called the convoy to a halt and soldiers arrested the militants, who said they had helped ambush the advance team.

Buratai ordered the body of the dead soldier and his two wounded comrades be conveyed to the nearest hospital.

Nigeria's military has said it has been plagued by leaked information from Boko Haram sympathizers in its ranks.