Ashaka cement plant: loses dynamite to Boko Haram

The chief executive of French construction giant Lafarge on Wednesday has given the all-clear after a subsidiary cement factory in Nigeria’s restive northeast came under attack from suspected Boko Haram militants.

“The factory was the target of intruders. There were no injuries. There was no damage to the factory,” Bruno Lafont told reporters in Paris.

“This morning (Wednesday) the situation is still calm and everything has returned to normal,” Lafont said, adding that the intruders had left the factory.

Bruno Lafont: says the Boko Haram militants had left the plant

Lafarge sources said the factory, which employs roughly 500 people, was “running as normal”.

At roughly 3:00pm (1400 GMT) on Tuesday, gunmen thought to be members of Boko Haram raided the Ashaka cement plant.

An employee told AFP that they looted dynamite and demanded to be taken to the room in the compound housing expatriates.

He said the plant was mostly empty, with staff running for safety when news spread the gunmen were approaching.

The attack came a month after jihadists seized and set fire to a cement factory in Syria owned by Lafarge near the Turkish border.