Boko Haram fighters have killed seven Nigerian soldiers and wounded 19 more in an ambush on a road in the northeastern state of Borno, the military said on Friday.

Kidnappers are demanding a ransom of 60 million naira (about $200,000) for a German archaeologist and his associate abducted this week from a northern Nigerian village, a worker at the excavation site said. Two villagers were shot and killed in the kidnapping…

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The abduction of 276 girls in 2014 sparked a global outcry and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

The West African nation is projected to surpass the 300 million mark by 2050, according to The World Population Prospects 2017 report by the UN.

Suspected Boko Haram militants ambushed an exploration team working for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., killing 10 people, the Nigerian army said.

The Islamist-militant group Boko Haram killed 27 people and wounded more than 80 others in an attack on a market on the outskirts of Maiduguri, capital of the northeastern state of Borno.

Nigeria deployed 2,000 special forces troops against Boko Haram Islamist militants in the country’s northeast, the army said.

The authorities blamed Boko Haram for the attack, which targeted worshipers at morning prayers, and one official said at least 50 people had been killed.

Nigeria’s military said it rescued a girl who was among the more than 200 students kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists from their dormitory in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014.