Boko Haram affected areas

A multinational force being set up to combat Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in the Lake Chad region will be operational in the coming weeks, Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Tuesday.

More than 7,000 men and boys have died in Nigerian military custody during its fight against Boko Haram over the last four years, Amnesty International says.

Nigeria's army says it has cleared 10 more camps used by Boko Haram in the north-east of the country. Й The army has recaptured most of the vast area the militants had seized but the Islamists remain active.

Nigerian forces backed by warplanes invaded Islamist group Boko Haram's last known stronghold, the Sambisa forest, on Wednesday, in an effort to finally defeat their six-year-old insurgency, two military sources said.

Nigeria's newly-elected President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday his government would "spare no effort" to defeat Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

ТAt the beginning of the year, Boko Haram controlled some 20 local governmental districts in the three north-eastern states in Nigeria,У Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA), said. ТToday, Boko Haram holds only a few areas in Borno State.Т

ТAt the beginning of the year, Boko Haram controlled some 20 local governmental districts in the three north-eastern states in Nigeria,У Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA), said. ТToday, Boko Haram holds only a few areas in Borno State.Т

Nigeria ramped up security nationwide on Wednesday before general elections this weekend, shutting land as well as sea borders and vowing to crack down hard on political unrest.

Central and West African states will hold a summit next month to agree a common strategy to combat the Boko Haram insurgency, their leaders said on Wednesday.

The Nigerian army said Tuesday that it had repelled Boko Haram from all but three local government districts in the northeast, claiming victory for its offensive against the Islamist insurgents.