Nigeria forces at war

Suspected Islamist militants attacked the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri and are battling security forces, Borno State Police Commissioner Lawal Tanko said. “We’re trying to contain the situation,” he said today by phone from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. A group of fighters passed through Maiduguri’s GRA district at dawn and attacked the city’s Giwa Military Barracks with guns and explosives, Kamil Ibrahim, a resident, said by phone. “I have moved to another part of town but I can still hear the sound of explosions and ongoing shooting,” he said. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the violence that has flared in northern Nigeriathis year, causing a humanitarian crisis, Human Rights Watchsaid today. “People forced to flee their homes are dispersed throughout Nigeria and in neighboring countries, where they face serious problems in accessing food, water, shelter, and other basic rights,” the New Yorkbased group said in an e-mailed statement. The militant group Boko Haram has been fighting since 2009 in a campaign to impose Shariah, or Islamic law, in Africa’s biggest oil producer. In separate attacks in Katsina state this week, gunmen killed 103 people, Lagos-based ThisDay reported today, citing eyewitnesses.