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Nigeria gunmen raid Damaturu city
Suspected Boko Haram militants have carried out attacks on the city of Damaturu in north-east Nigeria, residents and security sources say.
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The assault on the city, the capital of Yobe state, began shortly after 5 a.m. local time (04:00 GMT).
Gunshots and explosions were heard and a base of the riot police was reported to have been set on fire. Yobe State University also came under attack.
In Maiduguri city, twin blasts ripped through a busy market.
At least six people were killed and 32 wounded in the explosions at Monday market, a source at the local hospital told the BBC Hausa service.
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, and borders Yobe.
Boko Haram has repeatedly targeted the two states and a third, Adamawa, despite the fact that they are under a state of emergency.
A university student in Damaturu told BBC Focus on Africa he had been woken by the sound of explosions and had seen a large number of militants wearing military uniforms moving into the city.
He said he and some other residents had since fled to the surrounding countryside.
A government official, who asked not to be identified, said: "It's chaos all over the town. All I can hear is explosions and gunfire from my house.
"I couldn't go out for morning prayers because this started before dawn and I'm afraid to leave in case I get caught up in it," he said.
The authorities have struggled to repel the militant Islamist group, which has been waging an insurgency since 2009. New York-based Human Rights Watch says Boko Haram has killed more than 2,000 civilians this year.
On Friday, more than 100 people were killed in a gun and bomb attack on a mosque in the city of Kano.
Earlier this year, a suicide bomber in Damaturu targeted a crowd watching a televised World Cup football match, killing more than 20 people.
Credit: BBC
