Nigeria’s Islamic extremists Boko Haram pushed their conflict further into neighbouring countries with attacks on Cameroon and Niger, abducting more than 30 people including those aboard a packed bus.

Twenty seven hostages presumed to have been kidnapped by Boko Haram, including 10 Chinese construction workers and the wife of a vice prime minister, have been freed in Cameroon.

The wife of Cameroon’s vice prime minister was kidnapped and at least three people were killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants in the northern town of Kolofata yesterday, Cameroon officials said.

Scores of girls and young women kidnapped from a school in Nigeria are being forced to marry their Islamic extremist abductors, a civil society group claims.