MAIDUGURI/YOLA, Nigeria, May 15 - Nigerian troops moved into cities in the northeast on Wednesday, after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency there in response to an Islamist insurgency. Residents and Reuters journalists saw army trucks carrying soldiers enter the cities of Yola, capital of Adamawa state, and Maiduguri after Jonathan declared the emergency on Tuesday in three states - Borno, Yobe and Adamawa - following attacks on government targets by militants of the Boko Haram group.

Nigeria's military on Wednesday announced the deployment of "massive" forces to its northeastern border regions after the president declared a state of emergency in the areas where Islamist insurgents have seized territory. President Goodluck Jonathan issued the emergency decree in a broadcast late Tuesday, acknowledging for the first time that Boko Haram Islamists had "taken over" parts of Borno state, the insurgents' stronghold. "Nigerian Armed Forces...have commenced operations to rid the nation's border territories of terrorist bases," the military statement said.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday imposed a "state of emergency" in three states menaced by Islamist group Boko Haram, saying the level of violence called for "extraordinary measures". "I hereby declare a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states," Jonathan said in a televised speech, referring to the three northeastern states which have been among the hardest hit by the insurgency. He said more troops would "immediately" be deployed to the areas.

The purported head of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has claimed two recent deadly attacks in the northeast in a video obtained by AFP Monday, which also depicts women and children apparently being held hostage. "We are the ones that carried out the Bama attack," Abubakar Shekau said in the Hausa language, referring to the May 7 assault that killed 55 people. He also claimed an April 16 raid in the town of Baga that sparked clashes with soldiers which killed at least 187. abu-bs/lc