Nigeria says heavy fighting in northeast, death toll unknown

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities said on Monday there had been heavy fighting between security forces and Islamist militants in a remote part of the northeast, but there was no confirmation of reports from a local official that 185 people had been killed.

Fighting erupted on Thursday in Baga, a fishing town in Borno state on the shores of Lake Chad, by the Chadian border -- an area officials say is a stronghold for Islamist fighters and a smuggling point for weapons from across the Sahara.