Suspected Islamist militants early this morning (Saturday February 23, 2019) attacked a northeastern Nigerian town, forcing people to flee hours before presidential election polls were due to open, residents said.
“We have fled, along with our wives and children and hundreds of others,” Ibrahim Gobi, who lives in the town of Geidam in Yobe state, said by telephone.
“We are right now running and hiding in the bushes.”
Around the same time a Reuters witness said blasts were heard in Maiduguri, the capital of the neighbouring state of Borno.
But the News Agency of Nigeria reports that Nigerian military repelled the attackers who made an attempt to infiltrate Maiduguri, the Borno capital.
According to NAN, multiple bomb explosions and gun shots were heard between 5am and 6am.
But calm has now been restored, according to tweets by some Nigerians in Maiduguri.
The army has not issued a statement yet about the attack.
Northeast Nigeria has been hit by the decade-long Boko Haram insurgency with attacks in recent months carried out by offshoot Islamic State in West Africa Province.
Agency reports
