Schoolgirls and teachers in north-east have escaped an attack on a boarding school by Boko Haram jihadists, witnesses tell BBC.
They say the militants in pick-up trucks arrived in the town of Dapchi, Yobe state, on Monday evening, shooting and setting off explosives.
Alerted by the noise, staff and students were able to flee.
Residents and civilian militia in Dapchi say they believe the jihadists had planned to kidnap schoolgirls in their town too.
After finding the school empty, the militants looted the building.
Recall in April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in Chibok.
The kidnapping drew the world’s attention to the jihadist insurgency in northeast Nigeria.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former general, came to power in 2015 on a platform promising to stamp out the Islamist movement.
But despite retaking swathes of territory from Boko Haram, the group continues to stage attacks targeting both civilians and military targets, and frequently uses young girls as suicide bombers.
Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency has left at least 20,000 dead and made over 2.6 million more homeless.
