MAIDUGURI: Government troops and several hundred residents were forced to flee after Islamist insurgents overran a town in northeast Nigeria, security sources told Reuters on Saturday.
The attack on Marte, on Lake Chad in Borno state, came two months after residents had returned to their homes under a government programme after being internally displaced.
It underscores the precarious security situation in northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are active, and the difficulty the government faces in trying to return thousands of internally displaced people to their homes.
Soldiers fled during Friday’s assault and Marte remained under militant control on Saturday.
An unspecified number of wounded could not be recovered and it was not immediately clear whether there had been any fatalities. Sources said they believed the insurgents were part of ISWAP.
An army statement said that troops “tactically withdrew” to defend against a militant attack outside Marte. Troops had “effectively destroyed” seven gun trucks and “decimated” an unconfirmed number of attackers, it said.
Sources from the military and police said most residents had fled to the nearby Dikwa local government area and to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. “The situation is grim,” one said.
On Thursday five soldiers were killed and 15 others wounded by a landmine planted by Boko Haram in the remote village of Chibok in the southern part of Borno, two military sources told Reuters.
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