Boko Haram insurgents have seized another town in northeastern Nigeria with thousands of residents already displaced, officials have confirmed.
"It has come to the attention of the Adamawa State Government that insurgents are now in Gulak...and had killed and displaced scores of people," the state government's secretary Liman Tukur said in a statement on Saturday night.
He reaffirmed the government's sympathy with "the people of Gulak and other surrounding villages and towns whose areas had been overran by insurgents."
The government said it would do as much as possible to assist the displaced persons.
Boko Haram militants have already overrun the towns of Gamboru Ngala, Dikwa and Gwoza, all in Borno State; Buni Yadi and Bara in neighboring Yobe State; and Madagali in Adamawa State.
The group's elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau, recently declared all territories held by Boko Haram to be part of an "Islamic caliphate" in northern Nigeria.
The militants have reportedly also overrun Bama, a strategic town about 60kms from Maiduguri, Borno State's densely populated provincial capital.
Since May of last year, the three most affected states – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa – have all remained in a state of emergency, imposed by the government with the stated aim of curbing the Boko Haram "menace."
Outlawed in Nigeria, Turkey and the U.S., Boko Haram has been blamed for thousands of deaths and scores of violent attacks, especially in the country's restive northeastern region.
By Rafiu Ajakaye
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en/world
