In an attack on a UN aid center in northeast Nigeria on Saturday evening, dozens of fighters penetrated the city of Damasak in the state of Borno and set fire to the UN center and a police station, among other things.
The AFP news agency reported on Sunday, with reference to military and aid groups, that a soldier and at least three women had been killed.
According to military sources, the attackers also tried to attack a military base in the city, but withdrew after three hours of fighting with the security forces.
The security forces also requested air support.
A humanitarian worker said the situation in Damasak was "relatively calm" again on Sunday, but remained "unpredictable".
The AP news agency reported, citing local authorities, that the attackers also looted medicines from a Damasak hospital and stole an ambulance, but were prevented from setting fire to the building.
The West African branch of the jihadist militia Islamic State (Iswap) claimed the attack for itself, as reported by the Site Intelligence Group, which specializes in the analysis of Islamist websites.
It was the second attack on UN aid centers in Nigeria within a few weeks.
In early March, Iswap fighters attacked an aid center in Dikwa in Borno and killed six civilians.
Aid organization infrastructure affected
The UN coordinator for humanitarian aid in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, expressed "extremely concerned" about the attacks on Sunday.
In Damask, the infrastructure of three international aid organizations with which the UN is working is affected.
The aid organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) wrote in a statement: "Yesterday's brutal attack endangered our work and threatened the lives of many aid workers".
The five employees who were in Damask escaped unharmed, director Eric Batanon is quoted as saying.
The north-east of Nigeria is considered to be the stronghold of the Iswap fighters.
The West African branch of the jihadist militia "Islamic State" (IS) split off in 2016 from the Boko Haram militia, which has been violently fighting for an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria since 2009.
The attacks by the militias and their fighting with the army killed around 36,000 people in recent years, and two million more fled.
ngo / afp / AP
