Terrorists in northeast Nigeria attacked a military base overnight, sending approximately 5,000 civilians fleeing over the border to Cameroon, security sources and witnesses said on Friday.
This year has seen a resurgence of violence by Boko Haram terrorist group and its rival offshoot, ISWAP, both engaged in a long-running terror in the west African country.
The overnight attack on the towns of Banki and Freetown, both near the Cameroon border, come less than a fortnight after an assault on displaced people resettled from the conflict in nearby Darul Jamal, in which around 90 people were killed.
Witnesses blaming Boko Haram said terrorists struck Banki around midnight and that one civilian was killed in the ensuing gun battle between troops and the attackers.
‘Troops fought bravely’
"Everywhere people were screaming and running," resident Amina Bakari told AFP after fleeing across the border.
Ayuba Isa, the second-in-command at the Banki military base, said the terrorists tried to overrun the base before security reinforcements arrived and repelled them.
"Our men fought bravely and we were able to push them back," he said. "Unfortunately, civilians had already fled and many homes were destroyed."
A security monitoring report produced for the United Nations and seen by AFP said the terrorists belonged to ISWAP.
It said the air force was called in to provide support and the attack was stopped but two soldiers and two civilians were killed and 5,000 people fled across the border to Cameroon.
Since 2009, the conflict has killed more than 40,000 civilians and forced millions of others to flee their homes, according to the UN.
