Kerry Arrives in Nigeria Hours After Boko Haram Attacks Maiduguri
Soldiers and security block a road as they secure the venue during a rally of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Jan. 24, 2015.
by VOA News-Last updated on: January 25, 2015 
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in the Nigerian city of Lagos, hours after Nigerian troops repelled an attack by Boko Haram militants on the outskirts of the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.
Soldiers repelled three separate attempts by insurgents to enter the state capital, each attempt from a different direction, according to a security officer in Maiduguri.
The fighting began around midnight and continued into the morning. A soldier at the scene told VOA many are dead on both sides.
A military source and a civilian joint taskforce leader confirmed that scores of militants and soldiers were killed in Maiduguri. They did not give a civilian death toll.
Authorities barricaded the roads and imposed a curfew in the city until further notice. Authorities also imposed a curfew in the city until further notice.
Nigeria's Defense Headquarters said it oordinated air and land operations against the simultaneous attacks.
Boko Haram fighters are believed to have taken control of the military barracks in Monguno, 180 kilometers northwest of the capital.
Secretary Kerry, who aides said is concerned about possible violence around Nigeria's February 14 election, met with the country's two leading presidential candidates, incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and main opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari.
Kerry's trip
Kerry announced his trip to Nigeria on Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he spoke at length on the threat to the world from Islamist extremist groups, including Boko Haram.
The State Department said he will urge that next month's elections be free and fair, and emphasize the importance of ensuring the elections are peaceful and credible.
The February 14 presidential and parliamentary elections are tipped to be the closest since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.
Lagos, the country's financial capital, is about 1,500 kilometers (1,000 miles) southwest of Maiduguri.
Amnesty International stressed the urgency of protecting both cities -- in particular the teeming state capital Maiduguri.
"We believe hundreds of thousands of civilians are now at grave risk," Amnesty's Africa director Netsanet Belay said in a statement.
"People in and around Maiduguri need immediate protection. If the military doesn't succeed in stopping Boko Haram's advance, they may be trapped with nowhere else to turn," Belay said.
Attack on Maiduguri
The Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram has killed thousands during a five-year insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in the northeast of Africa's most populous country.
The army's inability to squash the group is a major headache for President Jonathan, who is seeking re-election in February and who visited the state capital on Saturday as part of his campaign. Opposition candidate Buhari had been due to arrive on Monday.
The assault on Maiduguri began just after midnight and that on Monguno later in the morning. Around 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Sunday, a Reuters witness in Maiduguri said shelling could be heard and that military helicopters were circling the city.
All roads have been closed, a security source said, and commercial activity has been shut down.
Nigeria's defense headquarters tweeted that coordinated land and air operations were being used to repel the attacks and a curfew had been imposed on Maiduguri.
The militants began the attack at the edge of the city in the Njimtilo area. Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state and would be a major prize for the insurgents.
The militants control vast swathes of Borno state and some areas of neighboring Adamawa and Yobe states, and recently took control of the town and a multinational army base at Baga by Lake Chad.
The government said 150 people had been killed in that attack, but local officials said the figure is far higher and some have put it as high as 2,000.
Monguno is about 138 kilometers north of the state capital, and just over 50 kilometers from Baga. Security sources said the attack there began on Sunday morning and that the military was being overwhelmed by Boko Haram's firepower. Houses in the town were also being set on fire.
"Boko Haram has more power than us and are shelling the town ... our colleagues are fleeing," a soldier in Maiduguri said after speaking to friends fighting the insurgents in Monguno.
Fighting in both towns was intense throughout the day, as Islamist militants fought Nigerian ground troops who were equipped with heavy weaponry and backed by fighter jets, the French news agency AFP reported.
Many civilians caught in the violence were people who had previously been displaced to Monguno and Maiduguri after Boko Haram stormed their home town of Baga on January 3, AFP reported.
Previous attacks
Boko Haram last attempted to take Maiduguri from the same area in December 2013, attacking a nearby army and airforce base, which is also the area's civilian airport.
Security sources said the militants tried to take the airport again during the latest attack but were repelled to about 350 meters away.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram has freed about 190 people who taken captive during a January 6 attack on the village of Katarko in Yobe. During that raid, Boko Haram gunmen set much of the village on fire.
Officials said some people may still be held hostage.
Boko Haram has carried out mass abductions in the past. Last year, the group took nearly 300 school girls from the town of Chibok.
Kareem Haruna contributed to this report from Maiduguri. Some material for this report came from Reuters and AFP.
