A large number of people were killed by Islamic militants who attacked a north-eastern border town in Nigeria, a state government official has said.
Information commissioner Mohammed Bulama, of north-eastern Borno state, said "many, many" people were killed and a number of shops and homes were set ablaze and destroyed in the Monday night attack on Gamboru Ngala, on the border with Cameroon.
No further details were available.
Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgents are holding 276 teenage girls hostage and are threatening to sell them into slavery.
The rebels' five-year-old Islamic uprising has claimed the lives of thousands of Muslims and Christians. The insurgents say Western influences are corrupting and they want to impose an Islamic state in Nigeria, a country of 170 million of whom half are Christian.
As many as 300 people were killed in the attack, according to local newspapers. The militants sprayed gunfire into the crowds of people at a busy market that is open at night when temperatures are cooler.
Nigerian federal senator Ahmed Zannah said the attack lasted about 12 hours, according to a newspaper. The insurgents set homes ablaze and gunned down residents who tried to escape from the flames, reports said.
Mr Zannah blamed fighters of the Boko Haram terrorist network.
Additional reporting by the Press Association
