Nigeria: President Buhari vows to crush Boko Haram 'without mercy' as protesters call for second Biafra

Yobe attack Boko Haram — Health officials carry the body of a victim of a suicide bomb attack out of an ambulance in Potiskum, in northeast Nigeria's Yobe State, on June 15, 2015 Getty Images

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the latest attacks carried out by suspected members of terror group Boko Haram.

Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram terrorists?

Boko Haram (recently renamed Iswap) fights against Western influence in Nigeria and aims to impose its version of Sharia law in the country. The group declared an Islamic caliphate in Gwoza, along the Cameroon border, in August 2014.

Boko Haram has raided several cities in the north of the country in a bid to take control of more land.

Three states − Adamawa, Borno and Yobe − have been under a state of emergency since May 2013, due to Boko Haram's attacks.

The group has killed at least 2,700 people since the beginning of 2015. Some 300 have been killed since the beginning of June.

More than 50 people died last week after three separate attacks in the country. At least 42 people died in two attacks in Borno state which followed the deaths of at least 10 people at a market in Yobe state killed by a child suicide bomber, believed to be aged 12.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast in Yobe, but suspicion has already fallen on Boko Haram, which is renowned for kidnapping civilians -- mainly women and children -- and forcing them to participate in attacks throughout the north-east, where the terrorists aim to establish an Islamic caliphate.

"They [Boko Haram] will not find Nigeria a safe haven, because they would be hunted down without mercy and compromise," Buhari said in a statement issued by the President's spokesperson, Malam Garba Shehu.

"No sane people who believe in any God would be destroying the lives of innocent people in cold blood, terrorists don't represent any religion.

"Make no mistake about it: this government is ever determined to discharge its fundamental duty of protecting the lives of its citizens from physical threats from any groups bent on creating chaos, confusion, and on destroying social and economic life of the people,'' the statement said.

The Nigerian government is being aided by mercenaries and troops from Chad, Benin, Niger and Cameroon in its offensive and has scored some successes since the military co-operation started in February.

Buhari, a former military chief, vowed Nigeria will do anything it can to defeat the deadly insurgence and find some 220 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno state, in April last year.

Boko Haram relocation plan protesters call for Biafra

Don McCullin took this photograph in Biafra, that captured the suffering of the Nigerian Civil War. Over a million lives were ruined due to the same. This photograph shows children suffering from severe hunger and malnutrition in the war camp. IBTimes AU

The government has denied an alleged plan to relocate dozens of Boko Haram suspects to the Ekwulobia Prison in Anambra state, southern Nigeria.

The denial came days after dozens of people in Anambra took to the streets to protest against the relocation. According to local reports, people shut their shops in several cities including the capital Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia and Agulu.

Protesters held banners reading "Buhari should not destroy the peace in Anambra State" and "We do not want Boko Haram in Anambra".

Some protesters also chanted "We want Biafra", referring to Nigeria's Eastern Region, which became a secessionist state called Republic of Biafra after gaining independence from Nigeria in 1967. It was re-annexed in 1970 following the Nigerian-Biafran war that claimed one million lives.

People in the Eastern Region, mainly from the Igbo community, wanted to secede due to ethnic, religious and economic differences with other communities in Nigeria following independence from Britain in 1960.

After independence, Nigeria was comprised of territories that were not part of the nation before the colonisation, resulting in escalating tensions among the communities.

The Eastern Region gained independence following two coup d'etats in 1966 and 1967. The fact that Nigeria's oil was located in the south of the country played a major role in the eruption of the war, during which medicines and food shortage in Biafra led to the death of thousands of people.

A movement to re-secede is present in south-eastern Nigeria today. The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) fights for the independence of South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria.

The Nigerian government has accused Massob of violence and his leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, was arrested in 2005 on treason charges. He was released two years later.

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