MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AFP) ― Boko Haram fighters on Sunday overran a strategic town in northeastern Nigeria and seized a military base, as Secretary of State John Kerry pledged further U.S. support against the militants.

The Islamists captured the town of Monguno in Borno State, which lies about 125 kilometers north of the state capital Maiduguri, which was targeted in a simultaneous dawn raid.

“Monguno has fallen, Monguno has fallen,” said a senior military officer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“We fought them all night long but they took over the town, including the military barracks there.”

The military in Abuja said that “scores” of Boko Haram fighters were killed as troops restored order in Maiduguri and Konduga, some 40 kilometers away.

But on Monguno, defense spokesman Chris Olukolade said an air campaign was being mounted as “troops had to retreat from the location” after the commander and soldiers were injured.

With closely watched elections in Nigeria less than a month away, top diplomat Kerry jetted into the financial capital Lagos for meetings with President Goodluck Jonathan and his main opposition rival Muhammadu Buhari.

Kerry’s whistlestop visit came amid fears of a repeat of election-related violence which in 2011 left some 1,000 people dead.

Security has dominated the build-up to the Feb. 14 presidential and parliamentary vote, as Boko Haram has intensified its attacks.

Nigeria is currently scrambling for a solution to the problem of how to allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the violence to vote, which has led to calls for a delay.

There have also been sporadic tit-for-tat attacks by supporters of Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party and those of Buhari’s All Progressives Congress.

Jonathan said he had told Kerry that his government would “provide all the resources that are required by the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure that the election goes smoothly.”

Kerry said it was “absolutely critical” that Nigeria had free, fair and timely elections and that the world was “paying very close attention” to developments in Africa’s most populous nation.

More than 13,000 people have been killed and more than one million made homeless by Boko Haram violence since 2009.

Kerry said Washington was “prepared to do more” to help Nigeria, which has west Africa’s largest military but has been criticized for failing to protect lives and property.

The United States has been sharing intelligence with the Nigerians and was involved in the multinational effort to find 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in April last year.

“Bottom line, we want to do more and that was part of the message to both President Jonathan and Gen. Buhari today,” Kerry added.

“We are prepared to do more but our ability to do more will depend to some degree on the full measure of credibility and accountability and transparency and peacefulness of these elections.”