MAIDUGURI, Nigeria -- In fierce fighting Sunday that killed more than 200 combatants, Nigerian troops battled Islamic extremists who attacked Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeastern Nigeria, from three fronts.
At the same time, the Boko Haram insurgents continued attacks on villages some 125 miles to the south in Adamawa state, slitting throats of residents, looting and burning homes, and abducting dozens of trapped women and children, according to Vandu Kainu and other escaping survivors.
Adamawa state legislator Adamu Kamale appealed for troops to protect civilians in Michika, where six villages are under attack. "The attacks have continued since Friday with no presence of security operatives," he said.
The multiple attacks came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital nearly 1,000 miles southwest of Maiduguri, to encourage peaceful elections on Feb. 14 in Africa's most populous country.
"This will be the largest democratic election on the continent," Kerry said. "Given the stakes, it's absolutely critical that these elections be conducted peacefully -- that they are credible, transparent and accountable."
The attack on Maiduguri, a city of more than 2 million people, began late Saturday. Explosions could be heard in the center of the city, as well as small-arms fire and artillery in its suburbs.
"Certainly this is the most serious attack yet," said Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno state, of which Maiduguri is the capital. "We faced a really existential threat."
Troops blocked roads into the city, which also prevented civilians from escaping.
Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade said Sunday evening that troops successfully repelled attacks on Maiduguri and Konduga, 25 miles to the southeast.
Earlier Sunday, the insurgents overwhelmed soldiers at one of Maiduguri's principal military checkpoints, arriving in buses as if they were ordinary travelers, Shettima said.
"The soldiers were completely caught off guard," he said.
Before the soldiers realized who they were, the Boko Haram insurgents opened fire.
"I believe they must have killed hundreds," Shettima said as he tried to give an estimate of the military casualties.
After the insurgents overwhelmed the soldiers, they moved to a checkpoint closer to the city. The military then called in warplanes, and officials said that bombs dropped on insurgent positions turned the tide of the battle.
More than 200 combatants died Sunday, mainly insurgents, according to soldiers and civilian self-defense fighters who counted bodies. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to reporters.
Olukolade said troops were mounting air raids in Monduno, a town 88 miles northeast of Maiduguri, which Boko Haram seized Sunday morning.
In Lagos, Kerry met with President Goodluck Jonathan and his chief rival candidate, former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari. Kerry told reporters afterward that he won pledges from both to refrain from violence.
He also issued a warning: Anyone responsible for inciting post-election mayhem will be barred entry to the United States, where millions of Nigerians live.
Kerry promised more U.S. support in the fight against Boko Haram if the elections take place peacefully and democratically.
"One of the principal reasons that President Obama asked me to come here at this time is to reinforce to all Nigerians the desire of the U.S. to be able to engage even more so in the effort to push back against Boko Haram," Kerry said. "But the quality of the democratic process is important to contributing our ability to do so."
More than 800 people were killed in northern protests after Buhari, a Muslim northerner, lost 2011 elections to Jonathan, a Christian from the south.
Boko Haram has denounced democracy and wants to make an Islamic state of Nigeria, whose population of about 170 million is divided almost equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.
Instability stemming from the fighting could strain the electoral process. Boko Haram's campaign is already threatening to disenfranchise about 980,000 displaced people, according to Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.
Amid mounting friction between the two countries over how best to fight Boko Haram -- the relationship is so strained that the Nigerians canceled a U.S. military training program in December -- Kerry said the United States was prepared to do more to help the faltering Nigerian military.
"The United States is deeply engaged with Nigeria," he said. "Does it always work as well as we would like or as well as the Nigerians would like? The answer is no."
How the United States plans to help Nigeria regain the initiative against the insurgents remains unclear. Boko Haram's abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls last spring provoked anger in the United States and Europe. But a breakdown in trust between the United States' and Nigeria's militaries has hampered cooperation against Boko Haram, as have fears that giving heavy weapons to Nigerian forces could lead to human-rights abuses.
After a meeting with his British counterpart this month, Kerry said the attacks by Boko Haram constituted war crimes and asserted that the United States was planning a "special initiative" to counter the group.
But Kerry has not provided details about what that initiative is, when it might be undertaken or how the cooperation between the two militaries might be improved.
He said there was evidence that the militants from the Islamic State extremist group, which has declared a caliphate in eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq, were now trying to forge alliances with terrorist groups in Africa.
"It is obviously a concern that they may try more aggressively to try to spread to countries in center and southern and other parts of Africa," Kerry said.
He added that there was no indication as yet that Boko Haram had formally affiliated itself with the Islamic State.
Jonathan said he reaffirmed a strong commitment to working with the United States "to put an end to global terrorism and particularly Boko Haram."
"I firmly believe that enhancing and expanding various channels of cooperation between our two countries, in the context of growing international coordination, are of the utmost importance," Jonathan said in a statement following the meeting. "I discussed a number of ideas with Secretary Kerry to move such cooperation forward."
Jonathan made a surprise visit to Maiduguri 10 days ago and pledged to crush the insurgents. But Boko Haram since August has seized and kept control of large swaths of the northeast, including key border crossings into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
With encouragement from the United Nations, Nigeria and its neighbors are setting up a multinational force to fight the extremists who recently have increased cross-border raids into Cameroon.
But there is distrust of Nigeria's military, which many believe is infiltrated by Boko Haram at the highest levels.
The Maiduguri attack is not unexpected. Boko Haram on Jan. 3 seized a key military base and Baga town on the border with Cameroon, killing hundreds of civilians and leaving the main road open to Maiduguri. The military said they were counterattacking a week ago. But escaping civilians said there was no fighting and the insurgents retain their control.
Maiduguri is the birthplace of Boko Haram and has been attacked many times in the five-year Islamic insurgency that killed 10,000 people last year. Boko Haram roughly translates to "Western education is a sin."
Information for this article was contributed by Haruna Umar, Ken Dilanian, Ibrahim Abdulaziz and Michelle Faul of The Associated Press; by Adam Nossiter and Michael R. Gordon of The New York Times and by Sangwon Yoon, Michael Olukayode and Yinka Ibukun of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 01/26/2015