Nigerian police and soldiers repelled an attack by gunmen on a French-owned cement factory on Thursday in northeast Nigeria, where security forces are battling an Islamic uprising, a police official said.

The gunmen tried to shoot their way into the compound in the morning, police spokesman Deputy Supt. Fwaje Atajiri said.

An attack on the same Ashaka Cement factory, a subsidiary of Lafarge SA in Gombe state, was carried out a month ago by suspected gunmen of the Boko Haram extremist group. The gunmen fled with large amounts of dynamite loaded onto stolen pickup trucks. No one was killed.

Lafarge SA in Paris confirmed an attack by “militants” was repelled Thursday and that no one was wounded, a company spokeswoman said.

Credit: AP