BOKO HARAM FAST FACTS AND TIMELINE

 Here's a look at Boko Haram, a militant Islamic group working out of Nigeria, whose purpose is to institute Sharia, or Islamic law.

Facts:

In the local Hausa dialect, Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden."

The group also refers to itself as Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad, meaning "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad."

Boko Haram militants mainly inhabit areas in the northern states of Nigeria, specifically Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno and Kaduna.

Originally, Boko Haram was referred to locally as the Nigerian Taliban because of their religious similarities to the Taliban.

Boko Haram does not engage in Nigeria's political system out of an adherence to a fundamentalist form of Islam, which forbids participation unless the system is based on Sharia, or Islamic law.

Boko Haram militants targeted and robbed banks in 2011.

Timeline:
2002 - The group, which may have existed since the late 1990s, organizes under the Muslim cleric Mohammed Yusuf. It is centered in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern state of Borno.

December 2003 - The first known attack by Boko Haram includes roughly 200 militants, who attack multiple police stations in the state of Yobe, near the Niger border.

July 2009 - The Boko Haram uprising begins in Bauchi and spreads to the states of Borno, Kano and Yobe. The militant group kills scores of police officers. A joint military task force responds, leaving more than 700 Boko Haram members dead and its operational mosque destroyed. The uprising ends when police capture the group's leader, Mohammed Yusuf. His deputy, Abubakar Shekau, reportedly dies in the uprising. Yusuf later dies in police custody; police say he is shot during an attempted escape, but Boko Haram claims it is an extrajudicial execution.

August 2009 - Senior Boko Haram militant, Sanni Umaru, releases a statement claiming to be the new leader.

July 2010 - Boko Haram releases a video statement in which Yusuf's deputy who allegedly died the previous year, Abubakar Shekau, claims to be the leader of the group.

September 7, 2010 - In the state of Bauchi, 50 Boko Haram militants attack a prison, killing five people and releasing more than 700 inmates.

May 29, 2011 - The day of President Goodluck Jonathan's inauguration, Boko Haram detonates three IEDs near a military barracks in the city of Bauchi in Bauchi State. At least 10 people die in the attack.

July 7, 2011 - Boko Haram warns Muslims to avoid Christians, public servants and public buildings, and anything related to politics, "This is a government that is not Islamic. Therefore, all its employees - Muslims or non-Muslims - are infidels."

August 25, 2011 - Twelve people die after Boko Haram militants attack a police station and two banks in the city of Gombi in Adamawa.

August 26, 2011 - Boko Haram attacks the United Nations compound in Abuja. A car bomb kills 23 people and injures more than 75 others.

November 4, 2011 - More than 100 die in multiple attacks in Yobo, Damaturu and Borno states. Boko Haram militants utilize IEDs and vehicle-borne IEDs to target security forces and their offices, markets and 11 churches.

January 2012 - A newly formed splinter group, known as Ansaru, announces Abu Usmatul Al-Ansari as its leader.

January 20, 2012 - More than 200 people are killed when Boko Haram launches coordinated attacks targeting police, military, a prison and other targets in the city of Kano in Kano State.

August 23, 2012 - Unverified media reports claim that Boko Haram has begun peace talks with the Nigerian government. Boko Haram spokesman Abu Qa Qa warns the media against making any more claims, "We are telling the government to understand that if it is not ready to embrace Sharia and the Quran as the guiding book from which the laws of the land derive, there shall be no peace... [and media agencies] should understand that for us there is no difference between those fighting with guns and with the pen."

February 19, 2013 - Militants alleging to be Boko Haram kidnap a French family of seven in a national park in northern Cameroon; however, the affiliation with Boko Haram can not be verified. The family is later released.

April 2013 - President Goodluck Jonathan states he has appointed a team to explore the possibility of amnesty for Islamist militants. Shekau responds in an audio statement: "Surprisingly the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon."

April 19, 2013 - Boko Haram battles with multinational security forces from Niger, Nigeria and Chad in the city of Baga in Borno State, leaving nearly 200 people dead, including many civilians. Shekau releases a video in May saying Boko Haram is not responsible for the civilian deaths.

May 15, 2013 - Nigeria's Ministry of Defence announces a military offensive has begun in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe to "rid the nation's border territories of terrorist bases and activities."

June 4, 2013 - President Jonathan approves the proscription of Boko Haram and splinter group Ansaru as terrorist organizations.

June 2013 - Boko Haram targets churches in various states on three Sundays in a row, leaving more than 50 people dead.

August 14, 2013 - The Ministry of Defence announces the death of Boko Haram's second-in-command, Momodu Baba (known as Abu Saad).

August 19, 2013 - Nigeria's chief army spokesperson claims Shekau may have died after an attack on June 30, but the claim is never verified.

September 17, 2013 - Boko Haram gunmen dress in military uniforms and stage a fake checkpoint near Benisheik in Borno, executing travelers and burning vehicles, leaving at least 143 people dead.

September 25, 2013 - A man claiming to be Shekau appears in a video and says that he is, in fact, alive and well. However, his identity is not verified.

November 13, 2013 - The U.S. State Department adds Boko Haram and Ansaru to its list of terrorist organizations.

January 26, 2014 - At least 45 are killed in a market in Kawuri in Borno after Boko Haram militants open fire.

February 11, 2014 - At least 23 people are killed when suspected Boko Haram militants torch houses in the village of Konduga, according to the governor of Borno state.

April 14, 2014 - Boko Haram militants kidnap approximately 276 teenage girls from a boarding school in Chibok in Borno. Officials there say some of the girls were able to escape.

May 5, 2014 - In a video statement, a man claiming to be Shekau says, "I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah...there is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women."

May 13, 2014 - Hundreds of Boko Haram militants storm three villages in the state of Borno. Villagers resist, killing more than 200 Boko Haram fighters.

May 20, 2014 - Twin blasts in the city of Jos kill 118 people at a market. Nigerian authorities decline to say who is responsible.

May 21, 2014 - The White House announces that the United States has sent 80 troops to Chad to help search for the kidnapped schoolgirls.

May 22, 2014 - The U.N. Security Council adds Boko Haram to its sanctions list.

June 3-4, 2014 - Hundreds of people are killed in raids by Boko Haram Islamic militants in the state of Borno, with some sources putting the death toll at 400 to 500.

June 7-8, 2014 - Suspected Boko Haram militants kidnap at least 20 young women over a weekend in the northeastern Nigeria village of Garkin Fulani, 8 kilometers from a town where more than 200 schoolgirls were taken nearly two months earlier.

June 18-22, 2014 - Boko Haram militants hold the village of Kummabza in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria, hostage for four days. They abduct more than 60 females, including children, and kill 30 men in the raid.

July 7, 2014 - Sources say sixty-three women and girls kidnapped by Boko Haram last month from the Kummabza village in northern Borno state, have escaped from their captors and returned to their village. Boko Haram is still believed to be holding about 200 schoolgirls abducted April 14 from a boarding school in the town of Chibok.

July 17-20, 2014 - Boko Haram raids the Nigerian town of Damboa. By the time the raid ends, 66 residents have been killed and more than 15,000 have fled.

October 16, 2014 - The Nigerian government announces they've reached a ceasefire agreement with the Islamist terror group that includes the promised release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.

November 1, 2014 - In a video, the group's leader denies the Nigerian government's claim of a ceasefire.

January 3, 2015 - A multi-day raid begins, where hundreds of Boko Haram gunmen seize the town of Baga and neighboring villages in northern Nigeria, as well as a multinational military base, leaving bodies scattered everywhere and as many as 2,000 people feared dead.

January 10-11, 2015 - At least 20 are killed and 18 injured in Maiduguri after explosives strapped to a girl are detonated at a marketplace screening checkpoint. At least three are dead and 43 injured after two suicide bombs, strapped to girls, detonate in a mobile phone market in Potiskum. Boko Haram is suspected as being behind the attacks.

March 2, 2015 - Boko Haram releases a video showing the apparent beheadings of two men they suspected of being spies.

March 7, 2015 - In an audio message purportedly from leader Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram pledges allegiance to ISIS, the Islamic militant group which controls areas of Iraq and Syria, and is known for its gruesome executions.

March 12, 2015 - In an audio message, a speaker purportedly identified ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al Adnani, claims the caliphate has expanded to western Africa and that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has accepted Boko Haram's the pledge of allegiance. On the same day, ISIS blows up the Iraqi army headquarters north of Ramadi, killing at least 40 Iraqi soldiers.

April 25-26, 2015 - The decomposed corpses of at least 400 men, women and children are found in shallow, mass graves and on the streets of Damasak in northeastern Nigeria. Due to a joint Nigerian-Chadian military operation, the town has recently been freed of Boko Haram, which seized the town in November.

April 28-April 30, 2015 - Nigerian troops rescue about 450 women and girls in the Sambisa Forest during a military operation centered around destroying Boko Haram camps and rescuing civilians. According to the military, none of the rescued have been identified as the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped last April.

July 1, 2015 - Boko Haram militants raid three villages in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, killing at least 145 people, according to witnesses.