The violence has now spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.

French aid group, Action Against Hunger says Jihadists have executed four Nigerian hostages who had been held since July.
 
A report by Channels Television revealed that the four were among six hostages held by the jihadists. It added that one of its staff and two drivers were among those killed.

“The armed group responsible for the kidnapping of humanitarian workers on July 18, have murdered four hostages,” Action Against Hunger said in a statement that did not identify the victims.
 
Another of the hostages was killed in September.
 
The French aid group said it is “extremely concerned and calls for the immediate release of its staff member, Grace, who remains in captivity.”
 
The six, an Action Against Hunger employee, two drivers and three health ministry personnel were kidnapped while delivering humanitarian aid to vulnerable people in Borno State.

Their driver was killed in the kidnap ambush carried out by militants believed to be members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group.
 
Jihadists aligned with the Islamic State group then released a video purporting to show the one female aid worker and five male colleagues who had been kidnapped in an attack in northeast Nigeria.
 
ISWAP is a splinter group of Boko Haram that swore allegiance in 2016 to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
 
It has repeatedly attacked military bases and previously targeted aid workers in northeast Nigeria.

“Action Against Hunger condemns these latest killings in the strongest terms and deeply regrets that its calls for the release of the hostages have not been acted upon,” the group said in its statement.
 
On Thursday ISWAP fighters militants killed 14 anti-jihadist militia and a police officer in northeast Nigeria, militia leaders told AFP Friday.
 
The militia was comprised of local hunters across the northeast along with the state-funded Civilian Joint Task Force, an armed vigilante group.
 
The decade-long Islamist insurgency has killed 35,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in northeast Nigeria.
 
The violence has now spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.
 
Action Against Hunger said it is currently providing food assistance every month to approximately 300,000 people in northeast Nigeria, as well helping thousands more with life-saving health and nutrition services.