Lagos - Boko Haram militants are in charge of at least 25 towns and villages in northeast Nigeria, the region's Roman Catholic bishop has claimed, warning of a deteriorating security situation.
Bishop Oliver Dashe said 10 towns in Yobe state, the same number in Borno and five in Adawama had fallen to the rebels over the last month, as they seek to carve out a hardline Islamic state.
International assistance was now required to tackle the problem, he told the Nigerian Catholic Bishops' Conference in the southern city of Warri, Delta state, on Wednesday.
Nigeria's government has denied losing territory to Boko Haram and the military has dismissed as "empty" the militants' claim last month that one captured town was part of an Islamic caliphate.
Independent verification that militants have overrun towns and villages is hard to come by because communications have been destroyed.
Most reports have come from the thousands of residents who have fled their homes to go to other towns and cities in the northeast and wider region.
Military top brass this month admitted that the militants' territorial ambitions were a threat to Nigeria's sovereignty.
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