(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78879000/png/_78879483_nigeriapotiskum4641114.png) In April, Boko Haram sparked global outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from a boarding school in Chibok town in Borno state.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has dismissed government claims to have agreed a ceasefire, under which the girls would be released.
He says the children have converted to Islam, are learning to memorise the Koran and have been married off.
(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74982000/jpg/_74982323_line976.jpg)
Who are Boko Haram?(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74831000/jpg/_74831293_022230272-1.jpg) Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is the most wanted man in Nigeria
- Founded in 2002
- Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27390954)" in the Hausa language
- Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
- Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
- Some three million people affected
- Declared terrorist group by US in 2013
What now after ceasefire fiasco? (http://www.theinfostride.com/news/world-africa-29881291)
Profile: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau (http://www.theinfostride.com/news/world-africa-18020349)
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Source: BBC