Nigeria says Boko Haram rebels use Thuraya phones to plan attacks in Borno state.

State of emergency in northeast; conflict far from economic centers.

The new arms, and the willingness of extremists to use them, highlight the increasing instability in the north.

Fighting between soldiers and Islamic extremists in northeast Nigeria killed at least 187 people, the worst single incident of violence in the region in three years.

Immigrant workers are finding themselves targeted by security agencies anxious about a growing Islamic extremist insurgency.

Offer from supposed sect leader Sheikh Mohammed Abdulaziz comes amid unending bloodshed in the region.

Comments widely viewed as hyperbole; estimated 45,000 deaths in Syria dwarf number killed by Nigeria's extremist sect.

The shootings took place in Potiskum, which has increasingly become the scene of violent attacks by Boko Haram.

Gunmen attacked a major police station near Nigeria's capital that holds members of a radical Islamist sect, freeing prisoners and killing two police officers.

A military operation in a city long under attack by a radical Boko Haram group appeared to claim dozens of civilian lives.