Nigerian Islamist militants seized the northeastern town of Chibok where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted by the insurgents in April.

Boko Haram took over the town after a battle with Nigerian forces and vigilantes yesterday, Ayouba Pogu, a community spokesman, said by phone from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. Pogu received the news from residents who fled Chibok after communications were cut as the militants probably destroyed phone masts in the town, he said.

The Chibok abductions by Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates to “Western education is a sin” in the Hausa language, drew international condemnation. The group has killed more than 13,000 since 2009 in its campaign to install Islamic rule in Africa’s largest economy, President Goodluck Jonathan said in September.

The abducted schoolgirls have converted to Islam and were “married off” to militants, a man claiming to be Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau, said in a video released Oct. 31 to reporters.