More than 37,000 flee Nigeria violence for Niger

[YahooNews]

More than 37,000 people have fled violence between the army and Boko Haram insurgents in northern Nigeria for neighbouring Niger, the United Nations said Wednesday. According to the latest report from the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), "37,332 people fleeing clashes in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamaoua in the north of Nigeria (...) have been registered in Diffa, southeast Niger". Nearly 29,000 people that have escaped were Niger nationals living in Nigeria while the rest are Nigerians. The number of refugees fleeing to Niger has increased sixfold since June, a month after the Nigerian army started a major offensive in the northeast aimed at crushing Boko Haram's four-year insurgency, which has left thousands dead.