Ten years have passed but whenever Mary Shettima hears footsteps at the door, she thinks her kidnapped daughter has come home.

More than 130 schoolchildren seized by gunmen in a mass kidnapping in northwestern Nigeria earlier this month were released unharmed on Sunday, officials and the army said.

Nigeria's president has ordered security forces not to pay a ransom for the release of more than 250 school pupils seized by gunmen last week, the country's information minister said on Wednesday.

Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday sent troops to rescue more than 250 pupils kidnapped by gunmen from a school in the country's northwest in one of the largest mass abductions in three years.

Crammed inside a church in the central Nigerian town of Bokkos, hundreds of survivors of deadly Christmas weekend attacks desperately await aid as they mourn their loved ones killed in the latest spiral of violence in the troubled region.

The UN human rights chief said Thursday he was "deeply alarmed" by the string of attacks on villages in central Nigeria which left nearly 200 dead, according to local authorities.

Armed groups have killed at least 160 people in central Nigeria in a series of attacks on villages, local government officials said on Monday.

"I am here to take you home. From a manual for trauma care to medical support, even the first words the soldiers escorting them home will say have been carefully scripted, with experts warning many could face a long road to recovery.

Seventeen troops died in a jihadist ambush in Niger, the government said, in a reminder of the nation's deep security crisis as its military rulers face off against neighbours determined to reverse last month's coup.

The coup in Niger will undermine the fight against resurgent terror groups in Africa's Sahel region, France's defence minister said this week, accusing the country's junta of taking "hostage" not just President Mohamed Bazoum but the entire country.

Niger's new military rulers have pulled out of several military agreements with France, raising questions about where we go from here.

A top commander of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) has reportedly died after he didn't get immediate medical treatment for a snake bite.

Nigeria's departing President Buhari defends legacy

Huge security challenges await Nigeria's new president

Inside Nigeria's centres for jihadists and their captives

Niger says it killed '30 jihadists', arrests 960

An investigation discovered a "quirk" on Facebook that automatically generates business pages for terrorist groups when users "check-in" to them.

Missing a beat: Music stars absent from Nigeria's vote campaign

Edith Kah Walla was at the front of a crowd of students that welcomed Cameroon's new president Paul Biya on a tour of the United States in 1984, full of hope that the young leader would bring stability and democracy, and end corruption.

'I shouted their names': the hole left by Nigeria's disappeared

A special panel named by Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission launched an investigation Tuesday into recent Reuters reports on rights abuses by the country's army.

Chadian protesters' hellish ordeal in remote desert prison

Ten troops killed in jihadist attack in Chad

Nigeria beefs up security after US, UK 'terror' warning

Nigeria calls for calm after US, UK warn of 'terror' threat

Jihadist fears cast shadow on Niger-Benin border

Lying on a small bed next to her mother, 14-month-old Aisha Usman stares blankly, her eyes sunk in their sockets and rib cage visible.

France committed to Africa's security, says Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron started a three-leg Africa tour in Cameroon in Tuesday, a trip meant to strengthen political ties with the continent and help boost agricultural production amid growing food insecurity linked to the war in Ukraine.

Macron arrives in Cameroon on first leg of west Africa trip