Residents flee Islamist insurgent attack on town in northeast Nigeria

© Reuters.

MAIDUGURI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - 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.