Nigerian town ‘in lockdown’ after militant attack

A garrison town in north-eastern Nigeria attacked by Islamists militants on Tuesday is reportedly in lockdown.

At least three soldiers are thought to have been killed in the attack on Monguno in Borno state.

But information about exactly what happened remains limited.

Sources suggest that a car bomb was used in the assault and that the impact of the explosion destroyed a number of houses nearby.

A number of civilians at a nearby camp, housing people who have fled their homes during the decade-long Islamist insurgency, were injured.

But it is not clear if this was from stray bullets or as a consequence of a fire that broke out during the attack.

The Nigerian military, which rarely speaks on its casualties, has not commented.

But the Boko Haram faction calling itself the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) has said it was behind the raid, saying that its fighters killed eight soldiers.

Earlier this week, the militant group also said it had killed or wounded nearly 50 Nigerian soldiers in three recent attacks in the region.