Maiduguri

The rise of non-state actors, mainly terrorist organizations, in recent years has dramatically increased the volume of violence and number of casualties around the world.

Three bomb blasts on Sept.20 rocked the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the stronghold of Boko Haram Islamists, the army said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

"There were three improvised explosive devices explosions at Gomari and Ajilari general area in Maiduguri at about 7:21 pm (1821 GMT)," military spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.    

The Nigerian army has freed 178 people being held hostage by Boko Haram including more than 100 children, it said late on August 2, following a series of deadly attacks by the jihadists in the country's restive northeast.

Boko Haram Islamists slit the throats of 10 fishermen in villages near Baga on the shores of the Lake Chad in northeastern Nigeria, a leading fisherman and a resident said July 30.

A girl thought to be aged just 12 detonated explosives she was carrying at a market in northeast Nigeria on June 23, killing 10 people and injuring dozens, a relative of one of the injured told AFP.

The blast bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram Islamists, who have used young women and girls in the past as human bombs and regularly attacked ?soft? civilian targets such as markets.

At least 21 people were killed in two separate Boko Haram attacks on villages near the key city of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria, a community leader and a witness said on Feb. 13.
      
"They (Boko Haram) killed 12 people in Akida village and nine others in Mbuta village during a raid," said community leader Mustapha Abbagini.
      

Nigeria's military on Feb. 1 repelled a Boko Haram assault on the key city of Maiduguri as violence raged across the country's northeast just two weeks before national elections.
 
The hours-long attack on the strategic capital of Borno state was the Islamists' second attempt to take Maiduguri in a week.    

Boko Haram fighters on Feb. 1 launched a fresh attempt to take over the strategically crucial northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a brazen attack on a state capital just two weeks before national elections.

Nigeria's military fought Boko Haram militants in the restive northeastern city of Maiduguri on Jan. 25, as US Secretary of State John Kerry jetted in to discuss fears about election-related violence.
      

Hundreds of people from four villages near the devastated Nigerian town of Baga have been forced to flee after a warning from Boko Haram militants, witnesses and community leaders said Jan. 20.
      
News of the exodus from Kekenu, Budur, Yoyo and Mile 90 villages came as Niger hosted a meeting on how to fight the rebels as concern mounted at the threat to regional security.