How Boko Haram's terror split Niger, Chad and Cameroon

The Boko Haram insurgency conflict began in 2009 in neighbouring Nigeria and has killed more than 27,000 people and left 1.8 million homeless in the country's northeast. Here is a look at the mayhem that has gripped the country and does not seem to be resolved any time soon.

Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group, was founded in 2002, by Mohammed Yusuf. Initially, their actions were nonviolent.  

Their then main goal was to "purify Islam in northern Nigeria." 

The Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009 when the jihadist group started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. The conflict takes place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities. 

The group has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions from their homes. It is ranked as the world's deadliest terror group by the Global Terrorism Index in 2015.

Over the period of time, the violence has spilt into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

According to a Reuters report, over 30,000 people have fled the Nigerian town of Rann to Cameroon by the end of January 2019 due to the fear of renewed attacks by Boko Haram jihadists.

Babar Baloch UN refugee agency spokesman said that the upsurge in violence in recent times in northeastern Nigeria had already driven more than 80,000 civilians to seek refuge in already crowded camps of Borno.

On April 19, Boko Haram fighters torched a village in Cameroon's troubled Far North Region overnight and killed 11 civilians in their sleep, AFP reported.

The unrest has spread to neighbouring Niger and Chad with the Boko Haram revolt claiming more than 27,000 lives and uprooting more than 1.7 million people, AFP reported.

Since the insurgency began 2009, Islamist militants Boko Haram have abducted thousands of girls and women in northeast Nigeria – most notably the more than 200 Chibok girls snatched from their school in April 2014 – with many used as cooks, sex slaves, and even suicide bombers.

Not only girls and women, men and boys have also been captured who are then taken to the Boko Haram bases and trained as fighters to serve as members.

A state of national emergency was declared in 2012 after Boko Haram carried out 115 attacks in 2011, killing 550. During this period Boko Haram carried out a series of attacks on Christians and members of the Igbo ethnic group, causing hundreds to flee. In Kano, on 20 January, they carried out by far their most deadly action yet, an assault on police buildings, killing 190. 

One of the victims was a TV reporter. 

In November last year, militants killed around 100 Nigerian soldiers in an attack on an army base on Sunday