Boko Haram insurgents

LAGOS(AFP) – Here are the most deadly attacks linked to the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram in Nigeria:

– November 4, 2011: A series of attacks on police targets and churches in the northeastern city of Damaturu, in Yobe state, claimed by the sect kills at least 150 people.

– January 20, 2012: At least 185 people are killed in the northern city of Kano following coordinated bombings and gun battles, claimed by Boko Haram.

– April 19, 2013: Fierce fighting between troops and suspected Islamists in the remote northeastern town of Baga (Borno state) kills 187 people.

– May 7, 2013: Boko Haram launches coordinated attacks in the northeastern town of Bama (Borno), killing 55 people.

– September 17, 2013: An attack by Boko Haram fighters disguised in military uniforms in the northeastern Benisheik area of Borno kills at least 142 people.

– February 15, 2014: An attack blamed on the sect leaves more than 100 people dead in the mostly Christian village of Izghe (Borno).

– April 14, 2014: Gunmen kidnap 276 female high school students in Chibok (Borno). Fifty-seven managed to escape but the rest are still being held.

Several foreign countries, including the United States, have joined forces to try to find the girls.

– April 14, 2014: A blast at a bus station packed with morning commuters at Nyanya, on the southern outskirts of Abuja, kills at least 75 people, in the most deadly attack to date on the capital.

– May 5, 2014: At least 300 people are killed in an attack at Gamboru Ngala. The town in Borno state near the border with Cameroon that is totally destroyed.

– May 20, 2014: At least 118 dead in two car bomb attacks on a market in Jos, central Nigeria. The regional governor blames Boko Haram.

– June 3, 2014: Hundreds are feared dead in a suspected Boko Haram attack on four villages in Borno state, with local leaders putting the death toll as high as 400 to 500.