At least seven people were killed and several others injured when Boko Haram militants launched an attack in the Madagali area of Nigeria’s northeastern Adamawa state late Tuesday.

Axar.az reports that “The report about the attack is true. I traveled to Yola [Adamawa's administrative capital] and my deputy just confirmed to me that seven people were killed as houses and shops were burned down by the rampaging Boko Haram,” Mohamed Yusuf, chairman of the Madagali local government, told reporters on Wednesday.

Yusuf confirmed that several people had fled the area, which borders Sambisa Forest, once reputed to be the militants’ stronghold until the army purportedly drove them from the area last year.

Madagali was among the areas once seized by Boko Haram as part of its short-lived Islamic caliphate between 2013 and 2015 before most of the occupied towns were freed in special operations ahead of the country's general election.