More Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria

Nigerian military command said on Sunday its land and air forces had repelled an overnight attack by the Sunni jihadist rebel group Boko Haram on Maiduguri. A curfew had been imposed "until further notice."

But military and communal sources said the extremists had also seized the town of Monguno and attacked Konduga, southeast of Maiduguri, during multiple assaults.

Amnesty International warned that "hundreds of thousands of civilians are now at grave risk" in the region. The militants killed thousands of Nigerians last year.

Last week, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the killing of hundreds of people in and around the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad as part of its five-year campaign to fully seize Nigeria's northeast.

Scores of casualties

In Maiduguri, hospital and military sources indicated that scores of people had been killed or wounded as the militants tried but failed to take the city and its airport early Sunday.

Sources cited by the Associated Press spoke of 200 combatants killed, mainly insurgents.

Reuters quoted security sources in the Monguno area as saying that Boko Haram shelling had left the town ablaze, prompting troops to flee.

Monguno 'fallen'

"Monguno has fallen, Monguno has fallen," said a senior military officer in Maiduguri quoted by the French news agency Agence France Presse.

President Goodluck Jonathan visited Maiduguri 10 days ago and was due to be visited on Monday by opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari ahead of Nigeria's election on February 14.

Both had talks on Sunday in Nigeria's commercial hub, Lagos, with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in the country on short notice.

Kerry: US 'deeply engaged'

Kerry, echoing the UN Security Council, condemned Boko Haram's recent attacks, saying the US was "deeply engaged" with Nigeria while adding that Washington was "prepared to do more."

A senior State Department official said Kerry had appealed to both candidates to instruct their supporters to refrain from violence. Jonathan's disputed 2011 election win triggered riots in Nigeria's north, claiming an estimated 800 lives.

Kerry also said it was critical that upcoming elections in February be fair.

"This will be the largest democratic election on the continent," Kerry said. "Given the stakes, it's absolutely critical that these elections be conducted peacefully - that they are credible, transparent and accountable."

'Governance vacuum'

Last week, the United State's federal Center for Naval Analyses based in Virginia said Boko Haram's five-year insurgency was largely fueled by a Nigerian governance "vacuum."

It accused Jonathan's federal government of using a "heavy-handed" military approach and said masses of unemployed youth were "susceptible" to Boko Haram recruitment.

"Little attention" was being paid to root causes of the conflict," it added.

Nigeria's population of about 170 million is divided almost equally between Muslims located mainly in the country's north and Christians in the south.

ipj/bw (AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa)