LAGOS
At least 1,300 people have been displaced by increasing Boko Haram attacks against towns across Nigeria's northeastern Adamawa State.
"We have so far registered 1,300 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who escaped from insurgents attacks in Madagali, Michika and Mubi," Abdulmumini Jauro, the commandant-in-charge of the refugees camp, told reporters on Wednesday.
"This figure includes nine pregnant women, 162 students running from the crisis from Adamawa State University and the Federal Polytechnic, both in Mubi," he added.
Jauro said that 175 of the IDPs are children, mostly aged between three and seven years.
Authorities had on Monday shut the Adamawa State University in Mubi for fear of insurgents' attacks.
The decision followed the capturing of towns bordering Mubi, including Gulak which is the headquarters of Madagali local government area.
But the military said it had chased insurgents out of Mubi and its environs, killing scores of them.
Adamawa State has a population of some 2.5 million.
Boko Haram militants have already overrun the towns of Dikwa, Gamboru Ngala, Gwoza and Bama in neighboring Borno State.
Maiduguri, the densely populated provincial capital of Borno and the state's most populous city, appears to be the militants' primary objective.
Boko Haram also now controls Buni Yadi and Bara in the neighboring Yobe State.
The group's elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau, recently declared all territories under Boko Haram control to be part of an "Islamic caliphate" in northern Nigeria.
Since May of last year, all three states – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa – have remained in a state of emergency imposed by the government with the stated aim of curbing the Boko Haram menace.
By Rafiu Ajakaye
www.aa.com.tr/en
