(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75306000/jpg/_75306515_line976.jpg)
Who are Boko Haram?(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75329000/jpg/_75329065_75007899.jpg) Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has been designated a terrorist by the US government
- Founded in 2002
- Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
- Launched military operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state
- Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - but also attacks on police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
- Some three million people affected
- Declared terrorist group by US in 2013
Who are Boko Haram? (http://www.theinfostride.com/news/world-africa-13809501)
Profile: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau (http://www.theinfostride.com/news/world-africa-18020349)
(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75306000/jpg/_75306515_line976.jpg) A state of emergency was declared in Borno and two other north-eastern sates last year to help the military crush the insurgency but the militants have stepped up attacks since then.
The schoolgirls abducted in April are thought to be held in the vast Sambisa forest, along Nigeria's border with Cameroon.
The group has also carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations, including that of moderate Muslim leaders opposed to its ideology.
(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/76575000/jpg/_76575051_nigeria_kano_borno_cameroon.jpg)
Source: BBC