Suspected Boko Haram Militants Attack Nigerian Border Town

Local Editor

Suspected Boko Haram militants attacked a Nigerian border town in the restive northeast of the country on Monday, setting fire to houses and killing an unknown number of people, witnesses and government sources said.

Hours after the raid started on Damasak, gunmen still roamed the area, with many locals seeking to flee into neighboring Niger, just to the north of the town.

It was the third major attack over the last week in Nigeria's Borno State, which have already seen close to 100 people die, including more than 25 people, mostly fishermen, shot dead in a remote community over the weekend.

A military source, who spoke to a colleague in Damasak, said that the militants had tried to attack the town recently last week.

Borno is one of three states under a state of emergency due to the five-year insurgency by extremist group Boko Haram.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team