Kashim Shettima

The Borno state government in northeast Nigeria has suspended trading in four cattle markets to prevent the sale of stolen livestock to raise funds for Boko Haram Islamists.

At least 25 people were killed by suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants in raids on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday morning on three communities in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, military and police sources said.

Boko Haram appears to have been weakened by a sustained regional fight-back but there are growing fears the group could target vulnerable people displaced by the violence, as elections approach.

Nigeria's government on Wednesday denied claims that Boko Haram militants abducted 60 women and children from the country's restive northeast, saying there was no evidence despite eyewitness testimony.

Nigerian soldiers and vigilantes are hunting "around the clock" for the Islamist fighters holding scores of schoolgirls hostage, an official said on Monday, as locals claimed the number kidnapped was far higher than first reported.

Scores of female students kidnapped by Islamic militants from a northeastern Nigerian school are free, Nigeria's military reported on Wednesday.

The Borno state government in northeast Nigeria has suspended trading in four cattle markets to prevent the sale of stolen livestock to raise funds for Boko Haram Islamists.

At least 25 people were killed by suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants in raids on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday morning on three communities in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, military and police sources said.

Boko Haram appears to have been weakened by a sustained regional fight-back but there are growing fears the group could target vulnerable people displaced by the violence, as elections approach.

Nigeria's government on Wednesday denied claims that Boko Haram militants abducted 60 women and children from the country's restive northeast, saying there was no evidence despite eyewitness testimony.

Nigerian soldiers and vigilantes are hunting "around the clock" for the Islamist fighters holding scores of schoolgirls hostage, an official said on Monday, as locals claimed the number kidnapped was far higher than first reported.

Scores of female students kidnapped by Islamic militants from a northeastern Nigerian school are free, Nigeria's military reported on Wednesday.