Islamist insurgents attacked a town in northeastern Nigeria and abducted about 100 civilians, according to local vigilantes and residents in the strife-torn region.

Suspected Boko Haram fighters rode into the town of Kukawa on the shores of Lake Chad Tuesday evening, armed with gun trucks and rocket-propelled grenades, Hassan Ibrahim, a member of a local vigilante group that was guarding the town, said by phone.

“After about 30 minutes in ferocious battle with a detachment of Nigerian troops, the insurgents were able to overpower them and went away with about 100 hostages,” said Ibrahim. Other residents confirmed the attack, saying it came two weeks after many displaced people were escorted back to the town by troops under a resettlement plan.

Boko Haram insurgents, some factions of which are allied to Islamic State, have waged a violent campain now in its 11th year, to impose its version of Islamic law on Africa’s most populous country of more than 200 million people.

Bloomberg