Boko Haram

The government is talking to Boko Haram members and it is trying to make sure they are genuine leaders, presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said in a tweet late Tuesday quoting President Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari is in France on a three-day state tour.

Military from Nigeria and Chad freed hundreds of hostages from Boko Haram captivity earlier this year but none of those rescued were from the 219 girls abducted in April 2014 from a school in Chibok.

The attack hit the town of Kolofata, which sits near the Nigerian border and has been repeatedly targeted by the Nigeria-based Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.

The death toll could climb, said Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of the Far North Region, who confirmed the attack Sunday morning as he was heading to the area. He said he had been told three bombers were involved, and that the wounded were being taken to the hospital in the town of Mora.

Ali Abdulqasim said his home village of Kolori and the neighbouring village of Baana-imam were attacked late Tuesday.

Abdulqasim said Wednesday he escaped the attack by scaling a mango tree from where he saw horsemen chase down and shoot fleeing villagers. He said he spent the night in the tree and when he came down in the morning he saw many corpses. Abbas Gava, a spokesman for a civilian defense group, said 26 people died in the attacks.

In one attack, a girl bomber died in an explosion that killed five people at the crowded entrance to the main bus station, said Assistant Superintendent Toyin Gbagedesin. Witnesses said a young male suicide bomber killed only himself when his device exploded prematurely.

Gbagedesin said 41 people were wounded in the bus station explosion. The bomber appeared to be about 14 years old.

These are the latest in a string of bombings and village raids that have killed hundreds in recent weeks as officials promise the deployment of a regional army to halt the Nigerian-born Islamic uprising that has killed some 20,000 in six years and spilled across the West African nation's borders.

In Cameroon, troops repelled an attack on Ashigashia, killing 10 and forcing the insurgents to retreat, said military spokesman Col. Jaco Kodji. Two soldiers were wounded but no civilians were reported injured, he said.

Col. Jacob Kodji said Tuesday that hundreds of fighters entered the border town of Ashigashia in Cameroon early Tuesday, shooting into the air. He said the insurgents retreated when reinforcements arrived to back the Cameroonian soldiers.

Col. Kodji said two soldiers were seriously wounded and 10 attackers were killed. He said some arrests were made. He said no civilian casualties were reported.

Heavily armed attackers came from Nigeria into the villages of Tchakarmari and Kangaleri early in the morning on trucks, said Tchakarmari village chief Kadzamare Amin.

"They burned at least 15 houses and slaughtered six men and three women whose corpses we are still to bury," he told The Associated Press from the area that is less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Nigeria's Borno State, where Islamic extremist group Boko Haram regularly stages attacks. He said that he saw dozens being taken.

Spokesman Col. Tukur Gusau said that 101 of those freed are children, along with 67 women and 10 men.

The Nigerian Air Force reported killing "a large number" of militants in repelling an attack on Bitta village, 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the army operations that took place around Bama, 70 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of Maiduguri city. Maiduguri is the birthplace of Boko Haram and the capital of northeastern Borno state.

Some of the captives say they were in the clutches of the Islamic extremists for as long as a year.

One young woman, Yagana Kyari, says she was just "waiting for death" because the jihadis constantly threatened to kill their victims.

Army spokesman Col. I. T. Gusau says 12 people were rescued on Wednesday and 59 on Thursday from villages about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast.