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At first, the attack had all the hallmarks of a typical Boko Haram assault. Armed fighters stormed a town on the border with Nigeria, shooting every man they saw.

Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group terrorizing this part of the world, is on the hunt — for food.

After rampaging across the region for years, forcing more than two million people to flee their homes and farms, Boko Haram appears to be falling victim to a major food crisis of its own creation.

13 November 2013 Last updated at 06:45 ET Share this page Email Print Share this pageShareFacebookTwitter Nigeria: US 'to name Boko Haram as a terrorist group' Boko Haram frequently clashes with the Nigerian armed forces Continue reading the main story Nigeria under attack Afraid to go to school Dead or alive Vigilante war Gunning for Boko Haram The US state department is expected to designate the Nigerian Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, as a foreign terrorist organisation.

The US state department is expected to designate the Nigerian Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, as a foreign terrorist organisation

t will become a crime under US law to provide material support to the group

The Nigerian government restored access in the country to Twitter on Thursday after a seven-month suspension that was imposed after the social media site deleted a post by Nigeria’s president that threatened a violent crackdown on secessionist groups.

The government blocked access to the site in June, but reversed course on Wednesday after Twitter agreed to several demands. Twitter will establish an office in the country, pay taxes there, appoint a representative and “act with a respectful acknowledgment of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history,”

Nigerians have been able to access the service only using a virtual private network.

Sixty women and girls have been kidnapped from two towns in north-east Nigeria, according to reports, dealing a fresh blow to government claims of a truce with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

Lazarus Baushe, an elder of the Wagga community, said: “They left 1,500 naira (£5.67) and some kola nuts in each home where they seized a woman, apparently as a bride price.”

The raids will intensify scepticism over a government announcement last Friday that it had achieved a ceasefire with Boko Haram, ending a five-year insurgency that has left more than 10,000 people dead. A senior aide to the president, Goodluck Jonathan, claimed the extremist group, which has been seeking to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, had agreed to release the 219 schoolgirls.

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)Nigeria reported its first coronavirus-related death on Monday, the country's Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said.

Two people, including an Italian who was the first case of coronavirus diagnosed in the country, have recovered and been discharged from the hospital, authorities said.

All civil servants in non-essential roles have been ordered to work from home for at least two weeks in Lagos State, a megacity of around 20 million people.

LAGOS, Nigeria — The High Court of Justice is on fire. Behind my home, it has been ablaze since noon. But in reality, the justice system the court claims to represent has been burning for nearly 60 years.

“We the people,” begins the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Section 40 guarantees us the right to freedom of assembly. By Section 41, “we the people,” are guaranteed the right to free movement. So, we assembled. And we moved. For that, we have been killed.

In Nigeria, the accepted experience with almost all officialdom is aggressive: the civilian officers in full military garb who slap women trying to enter the passport office; the ordinary policeman who pulls his gun on unarmed civilians because they dared to talk back. Violence defines the predictable. It takes an unpredictable, extraordinary level of brutality to cause a storm.

Women and activists in Nigeria have in recent years demanded greater action against sexual violence. Yet reported crimes come up against the systemic failings of Nigeria’s criminal justice system, which rarely prosecutes cases.Police have already been criticised for their response to Uwa’s murder. Evidence at the scene remained uncollected for days after the crime, said Akpobi.

Priscilla Usiobaifo, who works to combat gender violence with the BraveHeart Initiative in Edo state, said it was common for police officers in Nigeria to not collect evidence or even visit crime scenes, undermining the chances of a successful prosecution.

“Suspects and victims are often taken to the crime scene together. Then it’s shocking how they [police] behave at the scene of the crime. Situations where police collect evidence without gloves. A woman was gang-raped, police made her pick up the condom hidden under leaves at the scene,” she said. “You can see a huge training gap in police officers assigned to investigating roles.”

Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria’s northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the region.

330 students remain missing

“The kidnappers had made contact and discussions were already on, pertaining to the safety and return” of the children to their homes

The seizure of more than 300 boys brought immediate comparisons to the 2014 kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls. But an anguishing six days later, a state governor said the boys had been released.

extremist group Boko Haram

were with a group of men he described as “bandits” rather than with Boko Haram.

Pirates have seized two US sailors from an oil supply ship off the coast of Nigeria, officials say.

In kidnaps in the region, crew members are normally freed unharmed after any oil on board the ships is stolen.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters: "We are concerned by the disturbing increase in the incidence of maritime crime, including incidents of piracy off the coast of West Africa, specifically in the Gulf of Guinea."

The Islamist sect has been carrying out almost daily killings and kidnappings across northeast Nigeria in a campaign of violence now in its sixth year.

These came just days after a week-long killing spree by Boko Haram, in which the group torched at least 10 towns leaving around 2,000 people unaccounted for.

It is not clear if the girls were coerced or were even aware they were strapped with explosives, which may have been detonated remotely. But experts say that Boko Haram appears to be using the children it kidnaps

Nigeria's civil war was one of the most divisive conflicts in post-independence Africa.

declared the independence of the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria.

Estimates of the number of dead from fighting, disease and starvation during the 30-month civil war are estimated at between 1 and 3 million.

US special operations forces on Saturday rescued an American citizen taken hostage by armed men earlier this week in Niger and held in northern Nigeria, the Pentagon said.

"U.S. forces conducted a hostage rescue operation during the early hours of 31 October in Northern Nigeria to recover an American citizen held hostage by a group of armed men. This American citizen is safe and is now in the care of the U.S. Department of State. No U.S military personnel were injured during the operation," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.

The US forces who conducted the mission killed six of the seven captors, the official said.

SARS, which stood for Special Anti-Robbery Squad, was supposed to be the elite Nigerian police unit dedicated to fighting crime, but it was really a moneymaking terror squad with no accountability.

SARS officers would raid bars or stop buses on the road and arbitrarily arrest young men for such crimes as wearing their hair in dreadlocks, having tattoos, holding a nice phone or a laptop, driving a nice car. Then they would demand large amounts of money as “bail.”

In 2012 Mr. Iloanya was 20 when SARS officers arrested him at a child dedication ceremony in Anambra State. He had committed no crime

Africa’s most populous country and biggest oil producer has been convulsed by protests that started with anger over police brutality and have now broadened, drawing worldwide attention.

Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been demonstrating for weeks against a notoriously brutal and corrupt police agency, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad — a show of popular anger, fueled by longstanding grievances over corruption and lack of accountability, that posed the biggest challenge to the government in years.

Commonly known as SARS, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad was created in 1984 in response to an epidemic of violent crime including robberies, carjackings and kidnappings. While it was credited with having reduced brazen lawlessness in its initial years, the police unit was later accused of evolving into the same problem it had been designed to stop: a criminal enterprise that acts with impunity.