(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75306000/jpg/_75306515_line976.jpg) Boko Haram at a glance (http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/80142000/jpg/_80142357_afp_bh.jpg)
- 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 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
Who are Boko Haram? (http://www.theinfostride.com/news/world-africa-13809501)
Why Nigeria has not defeated Boko Haram (http://www.theinfostride.com/news/world-africa-27396702)
(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75306000/jpg/_75306515_line976.jpg) One witness was quoted as saying that victims included small children and a woman in labour.
Afterwards, militants drove into the surrounding country, rounding up women, children and the elderly, unnamed witnesses told the group.
"Boko Haram took around 300 women and kept us in a school in Baga," one woman, who Amnesty said had been held for four days, was quoted as saying.
"They released the older women, mothers and most of the children after four days but are still keeping the younger women."
(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/80064000/gif/_80064191_nigeria_boko_haram_v6.gif)
Source: BBC