[54][80] The conflict is taking place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities, and the insurgents' ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic state in the region.

[94][95] Some details of the amnesty includes granting of pardons to Boko Haram fighters and also listening to different ethnic groups under the sect with a bid to ending violence.

[99] A commander of the Joint Task Force expressed optimism that the Boko Haram crisis would end very soon, while advising the troops not to rest or give the terrorists a chance to recuperate, reorganise and start carrying out attacks, saying, "We are almost there, so let's maintain the momentum.

[125] On 8 March, a small Special Boat Service team and the Nigerian Army attempted to rescue two hostages, Briton Chris McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara, being held in Sokoto, by members of the Boko Haram terrorist organisation loyal to al-Qaeda.

In May, Nigerian government forces launched an offensive in the Borno region in an attempt to dislodge Boko Haram fighters after a state of emergency was called on 14 May.

A source involved with the operation told The Observer that "The girls were located in the first few weeks of the RAF mission", and that "We [RAF] offered to rescue them, but the Nigerian government declined", this was because it viewed any action to be taken as a "national issue", and for it to be resolved by Nigerian intelligence and security services, the source added that the girls were then tracked by the aircraft as they were dispersed into progressively smaller groups over the following months.

[citation needed] The increasing intensity of the insurgency prompted the Nigerian government to launch an offensive, and with the help of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon, they recaptured many areas that were formerly under the control of Boko Haram.

On 7 March, Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) via an audio message posted on the organisation's Twitter account.

[158] On 12 March, ISIL's spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani released an audiotape in which he welcomed the pledge of allegiance, and described it as an expansion of the group's caliphate to West Africa.

For example, ISIL's central leadership attempted to reduce Boko Haram's brutality toward civilians and internal critics, as Shekau's ideology was "too extreme even for the Islamic State".

[168] By April, the Nigerian military was reported to have retaken most of the areas previously controlled by Boko Haram in Northeastern Nigeria, except for Sambisa Forest in Borno.

[176][177] In early October 2015, the United States military deployed 300 troops to Cameroon, with the approval of the Cameroonian government, with the primary mission of providing intelligence support to local forces and conducting reconnaissance flights.

[189] On 17 January, a Nigerian Air Force jet mistakenly bombed an IDP camp near the Cameroonian border in Rann, Borno, mistaking it for a Boko Haram encampment.

[197] In September, Boko Haram militants kidnapped about 40 young adults, women and children and killed 18 in the town of Banki, 130 km southeast of Maiduguri, Borno State, on the border of Nigeria and Cameroon.

In December, fighters who were believed to belong to ISWAP attacked a patrol of US Army Special Forces and Nigerian soldiers in the Lake Chad Basin Region in Niger.

[223] On 25 September, Boko Haram ambushed a military convoy accompanying government officials near Monguno town, killing 15; Eight policemen, three soldiers, and four Civilian Joint Task Force members.

[246] On 18 January, ISIS operatives exchanged fire and activated several IEDs against Nigerian soldiers in Matari, about 50 km west of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

[260] On 6 March, Boko Haram invaded Rumirgo community of Askira Uba local government area of Borno, killing two civilians and a security personnel and stole a tanker vehicle loaded with petrol.

[265] On 29 October it was reported that Nigeria's army it had killed the new leader of ISWAP, Malam Bako, in a military operation this month, two weeks after announcing the death of the group's former head Abu Musab al-Barnawi.

[270] On 16 March the leader of Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, a Boko Haram splinter group, Alhaji Ari-Difinoma, surrendered to troops.

[277] On 1 June a rivalry clash between ISWAP and the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād led to the killing of a commander by the name Ummate Ma, and scores of his fighters.

On 3 August it was reported that military airstrikes killed Boko Haram commander Alhaji Modu and 27 other terrorists on Mandara Mountain in Gwoza local government area of Borno State.

[282] On 6 August Abdulkarim Faca-Faca, who was among the masterminds of the attack on President Muhammadu Buhari's advance convoy to Katsina, was killed along with eight of his gang members by air strikes.

[304] Possibly due to geographical factors, many (but not necessarily all) southern tribes, particularly those on the coast, had made contact with Europeans – unlike the North, which was engaged mainly with the Arab world and not Europe.

[309] Chris Kwaja, a Nigerian university lecturer and researcher, asserted in 2011 that "religious dimensions of the conflict have been misconstrued as the primary driver of violence when, in fact, disenfranchisement and inequality are the root causes".

[310] Nigerian opposition leader Buba Galadima said in 2012: "What is really a group engaged in class warfare is being portrayed in government propaganda as terrorists in order to win counter-terrorism assistance from the West.

Amnesty International accused the Nigerian government of human rights abuses after 950 suspected Boko Harām militants died in detention facilities run by Nigeria's military Joint Task Force in the first half of 2013.

[319] A major problem faced by local governments is the rehabilitation of captured or surrendered militants, as these are generally suspected by officials and civilians to still hold connections to the rebels and pose a security risk.

The Boko Harām leadership has international connections to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Shabaab, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), Mokhtar Belmokhtar's factions, and other militant groups outside Nigeria.

[36] On 17 May 2014, the presidents of Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger met for a summit in Paris and agreed to combat Boko Harām on a coordinated basis, sharing in particular surveillance and intelligence gathering.