Militants attack town where girls kidnapped

Islamic extremists in Nigeria have seized Chibok, forcing thousands of people to flee the town where insurgents kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in April, a local official said Friday.

The Boko Haram insurgents entered the town Thursday, shooting from pickup trucks and motorcycles, said Bana Lawan, chairman of the Chibok local government.

“Nobody can tell you what is happening there today because everybody is just trying to escape with their lives,” he said.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. is closely monitoring the situation in Chibok.

“We condemn these attacks in Chibok, a community that has already suffered too much. ... We remain committed to helping the government of Nigeria address the threat posed by extremist organizations, Psaki said.

In a separate development, a car bomb exploded Friday night in northern Kano city, the second largest population center in Nigeria, killing six people, including three police officers, according to police.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Boko Haram extremists have detonated bombs in Kano in the past.

Meanwhile, attempts to call the cellphones of some of the kidnapped girls’ parents living in Chibok failed. Boko Haram often destroys cellphone towers, and the military often cuts communications to areas under attack.

Dozens of the girls escaped in the first two days after their kidnapping from a boarding school just outside the town, but 219 are still missing.

Community leader Hussain Monguno said none of the escapees was in Chibok at the time of the attack. They have all been given scholarships to other schools in northern Nigeria.