By Olarewaju Kola
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria
Boko Haram militants are still in full control of Monguno, a city in Nigeria's northeastern Borno State, and an army base they had captured one day earlier, sources have confirmed.
"About 20 soldiers were killed in the [Sunday] attack and many were wounded," a military source told The Anadolu Agency on Monday, requesting anonymity.
He said army troops had been ordered to withdraw from confrontations with Boko Haram insurgents for "operational and tactical reasons."
According to the source, the commanding officer of the army base was wounded in the attack, forcing others to retreat.
He said many soldiers were still in the bush, trying to find their way to provincial capital Maiduguri, nearly 135km from Monguno.
Hundreds of Boko Haram militants have staged simultaneous attacks on Monguno and Maiduguri.
The Nigerian army confirmed late Sunday that the attacks on Maiduguri had been repelled, but kept mum on the fate of Monguno.
But Jubrin Gunda, a spokesman for a vigilante Civilian Joint Task Force, confirmed to AA on Sunday that Monguno had fallen to Boko Haram.
"With the capture of Monguno, I'm sad to note that all of northern Borno has now fallen," he told AA.
Monguno, a desert community north of Borno, shares borders with Baga, a city captured by Boko Haram on Jan. 3.
Boko Haram has attempted to overrun the town and take over the barracks twice in 2014, but both attacks were repelled.
Retreating
Many of the soldiers who had "retreated" from Monguno were seen by an AA reporter in Maiduguri on Monday afternoon.
Some were wearing military fatigues, while others were half-dressed in their military uniforms carrying assault rifles.
One of the soldiers told AA that Boko Haram insurgents had come in the early hours of Sunday and had fired a few rocket-propelled grenades into the barracks "causing confusion and a quick response from the troops."
He said some had died in the process, but refused to disclose the actual death toll.
"Nobody will tell you the number now," the soldier told AA.
A military fighter plane could be seen flying towards the Monguno area on Monday morning, according to an AA reporter.
For the last five years, Nigeria has battled a fierce Boko Haram insurgency that has ravaged the country's volatile northeast and claimed thousands of lives.
The year 2014 proved to be the insurgency's bloodiest year yet, with increasingly frequent attacks, higher death tolls and a deluge of displaced persons.
A seemingly emboldened Boko Haram recently stepped up its militant activity, seizing several areas of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states, where it has since declared an "Islamic caliphate."
