Boko Haram militants attacked another town in northeast Nigeria on Saturday and moved southwards in an apparent strategy to create an Islamist enclave, according to The Associated Press.
The group, which has taken over several northeast towns and villages in recent weeks, stormed Gulak in the northern part of Adamawa state where the militants are thought to have bases, the AP reported.
Gulak is about 30 miles southwest of Gwoza, a border town in neighboring Borno state seized by Boko Haram last month and where the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, proclaimed a "Muslim territory" in the northeast, according to the AP.
A resident says she saw Nigerian soldiers fleeing when hundreds of insurgents in stolen military armored personnel carriers, trucks and motorcycles attacked Michika on Sunday, the AP reported.
Marry Dauda said an air force jet fighter arrived, but did nothing but surveillance, according to the AP "The jet continued to hover over the town without attacking the terrorists," she told the AP.
Another town, Madagali, between Gwoza and Gulak, had already been attacked previously, the AP reported.
Tanko Wazumtu, an aide to Adamawa state Acting Governor Alhaji Ahmed Umaru Fintiri, also confirmed the attack, saying his own father was among those killed, according to the AP.
The group has killed thousands since launching an uprising in 2009, and are allegedly believed to be trying to mimic the example of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the AP reported. The group has also claimed shootings and bombings across the north and, more sporadically, in the federal capital Abuja and even in the southern commercial hub Lagos.
Nigeria's military says air strikes have been launched against the militants as they attempt to reverse Boko Haram's recent gains, which have raised fears that the group may try to capture the Borno state capital Maiduguri, according to the AP.
