Northern Nigeria’s riot police training academy has been overrun by Boko Haram Islamist militants, a witness in Borno State has told the BBC.
The BBC reports that shots were heard after the militants arrived in three armoured vehicles and on dozens of motorcycles, he said.
The terrorists had yesterday hoisted flags over buni Yadi, Borno State same community where school boys were sometimes slaughtered.
Several residents who fled the Boko Haram attack on Buni Yadi in Yobe state said the assault began late last month, with the group ultimately taking over the main government building.
The AFP news agency said the group had reportedly raised their flag above the building and carried out summary executions, including of two people who were caught smoking cigarettes.
Abdullahi Bego, the spokesman for Ibrahim Geidam, Yobe’s governor, could not confirm the executions.
“As I speak there are no military in Buni Yadi and locals say that Boko Haram come and go as they please,” he said.
“So many people from Buni Yadi have fled to the state capital Damaturu.”
A police spokesman confirmed the attack while a senior security source said it had not been possible to communicate with the academy since Wednesday.
The Liman Kara college is near Gwoza town, seized by Boko Haram this month.
Thousands have been killed across north-eastern Nigeria since Boko Haram launched its violent campaign for an Islamic state in 2009.
The militants have stepped up their attacks after being pushed out of their bases in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, and have been targeting towns and villages in deadly raids.
In recent weeks, the militants have been moving from their rural camps and taking over substantial towns.
The militants have been in control of Gwoza, which had a population of about 50,000, since the beginning of August.
They apparently retreated about 100km (62 miles) to Gwoza after losing control of Damboa – both large towns in Borno state.
But attempts by the security forces to retake Gwoza have failed – and a group of about 40 soldiers is now refusing to fight, saying they are too poorly equipped to take on the heavily armed insurgents.
