Boko Haram militants have seized the north-eastern Nigerian town of Chibok, from where they kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
Militants attacked and took control of the town, in Borno state, on Thursday evening, residents who escaped told the BBC.
Boko Haram has repeatedly targeted villages around Chibok over recent months.
The group says it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.
Separately on Friday, a suicide attack at a petrol station in the northern city of Kano left at least six people dead, police said.
A senator for Borno state, Ali Ndume, told the BBC Hausa service that security forces posted in Chibok, a relatively small, mainly Christian town, ran away when the insurgents attacked.
Residents told the Sahara Reporters news website that the militants headed to the centre of Chibok and declared that they were taking it over as part of their caliphate.
Credit: BBC
