NIGER

Troops from Niger and Chad recaptured Damasak earlier in March, ending months of control by the Islamist group.

Lt. Col. Toumba Mohamed said residents reported 400-500 women and children kidnapped.

Chadian strikes killed several dozen Boko Haram fighters in the Nigerian village of Djaboullam, said a senior Niger official.

Victims of the terror group's "killing and maiming spree" are discovered as international troops retake lost Nigerian territory.

The administration of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan failed to act soon enough, said former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

A government minister rejected a rights group report that accused the Cameroon army of abuses.

The Nigerian militant organization declared its allegiance to the Islamic State group on Saturday.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the three bombings that killed at least 47 people Saturday, but the Islamist militant group is the prime suspect.

Militant fighters have reportedly told town residents to flee to avoid being killed in the crossfire of an anticipated battle.

The video, which is the first part of a series the group has entitled “Harvest of the Spies,” depicts militants killing two men they accused of spying.

Police called it a "mob action carried out by an irate crowd" in the northeastern city of Bauchi.

Some 5,000 people marched in Cameroon protesting against the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Fighting between the terrorists and coalition forces has intensified.

“We will track Hezbollah’s illicit activities to all corners of the earth,” said a U.S. Treasury release.

A quarter of the countries surveyed still report high levels of religious hate crimes despite declining levels of hostility.

The U.S. Department of State warned Americans against traveling to and within Nigeria during the country's hotly contested upcoming elections.

Baga was the site of a brutal massacre perpetrated by Boko Haram Islamist militants last month.

At least 36 civilians were killed when a military plane bombed a funeral party in a Niger border village, the government said, in an incident its deputy mayor blamed on the Nigerian air force.

In recent weeks, the Nigerian army has conducted several operations to retake territories captured by Boko Haram.

Among those arrested since Feb. 6 was a prominent Boko Haram member called Kaka Bounou.

Most of those killed were children selling peanuts or begging for money.

Explosions and gunfire could be heard after the fighters overwhelmed a checkpoint at the edge of the city.