Boko Haram

====West African offensive====
{{main|2015 West African offensive}}
[[File:Wilayat al Sudan al Gharbi.png|300px|thumb|right|Map of Boko Haram's territorial control on 10 April 2015, over 2 months after the start of the 2015 West African offensive]]
Starting on 23 January, a coalition of military forces from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger began a campaign against Boko Haram.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nigeria postpones elections, focuses on major offensive against Boko Haram |agency=[[Associated Press|AP News]]|work=The Christian Science Monitor|date=7 February 2015|access-date=30 April 2015|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2015/0207/Nigeria-postpones-elections-focuses-on-major-offensive-against-Boko-Haram-video}}</ref> On 4 February, the [[Military of Chad|Chadian Army]] killed over 200 Boko Haram militants.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/02/04/world/africa/ap-af-nigeria-violence.html| title=NYT | access-date=4 February 2015}}</ref> Soon afterwards, Boko Haram carried out [[Fotokol massacre|a massacre]] in the town of [[Fotokol]] in Far North, Cameroon, killing 81 civilians, 13 Chadian soldiers and 6 Cameroonian soldiers.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chadian jets bomb Nigerian town in anti-Boko Haram raid |work=[[News 24 (Albania)|News24]] |access-date=10 February 2015 |date=5 February 2015 |url=http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Chad-troops-killed-in-Boko-Haram-counter-attack-20150205 |archive-date=6 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706174541/http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Chad-troops-killed-in-Boko-Haram-counter-attack-20150205 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 2 March, the Nigerian military defeated Boko Haram in the [[Battle of Konduga (2015)|Battle of Konduga]].

On 7 March, Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to ISIL via an audio message posted on the organisation's [[Twitter]] account.<ref name="theatlantic_387235"/><ref name="BokoHaramIS2"/> Nigerian army spokesperson Sami Usman Kukasheka said the pledge was a sign of weakness and that Shekau was like a "drowning man".<ref>{{cite news|title=Boko Haram conflict: Nigerian allies launch offensive|date=8 March 2015 |publisher=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31789412|access-date=1 May 2015}}</ref> On 12 March 2015, ISIL's spokesman [[Abu Mohammad al-Adnani]] released an audiotape in which he welcomed the pledge of allegiance, and described it as an expansion of the group's caliphate to West Africa.<ref name="BokoHaramIS">{{cite web | url=https://news.yahoo.com/accepts-allegiance-nigeria-jihadists-boko-haram-201513146.html | title=IS welcomes Boko Haram allegiance: tape | publisher=AFP | date=12 March 2015 | access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref>

On 24 March, residents of [[Damasak]], Borno State, said that Boko Haram had taken more than 400 women and children from the town as they fled from coalition forces [[Battle of Damasak|who retook it]] [[Damasak massacre|and discovered]] a [[mass grave]] of Boko Haram victims.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-violence-nigeria-kidnapping-idUSKBN0MK22Y20150324 | title=Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds in northern Nigeria town: residents | work=[[Reuters]]| date=24 March 2015 | access-date=25 March 2015 | author=Penney, Joe | archive-date=25 March 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325182816/http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/24/us-violence-nigeria-kidnapping-idUSKBN0MK22Y20150324 | url-status=live }}</ref> On 27 March, the Nigerian Army captured Gwoza, which was believed to be the location of Boko Haram headquarters.<ref>{{cite news|title=Boko Haram HQ Gwoza in Nigeria 'retaken'|date=27 March 2015|publisher=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32087211|access-date=1 May 2015}}</ref> On election day 28 March 2015, Boko Haram extremists killed 41 people, including a legislator, to discourage hundreds from voting.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/boko-haram-kills-41-as-millions-of-nigerians-vote-in-close-presidential-election-1.2301714 | title=Boko Haram kills 41 as millions of Nigerians vote in close presidential election | agency=[[Associated Press]] | date=28 March 2015 | access-date=28 March 2015 | author=Michelle Faul and Haruna Umar}}</ref>

In March, Boko Haram lost control of the Northern Nigerian towns of [[Bama, Nigeria|Bama]]<ref name = BBCTide>Ewokor, Chris (21 March 2015) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31911641 Is the tide turning against Boko Haram?] BBC News, Africa. Retrieved 29 April 2015</ref> and Gwoza<ref>(27 March 2015) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32087211 Boko Haram HQ Gwoza in Nigeria 'retaken'] BBC News, Africa. Retrieved 29 April 2015</ref> to the Nigerian army. The Nigerian authorities said that they had taken back 11 of the 14 districts previously controlled by Boko Haram.<ref name = BBCTide/> In April, four Boko Haram camps in the [[Sambisa Forest]] were overrun by the Nigerian military who freed nearly 300 females.<ref>(29 April 2015) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32506942 Nigerian army 'rescues nearly 300' from Sambisa Forest] BBC News, Africa. Retrieved 29 April 2015</ref> Boko Haram forces were believed to have retreated to the [[Mandara Mountains]], along the Nigeria-Cameroon border.<ref>(14 April 2015) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32292854 Nigeria's Chibok girls 'seen with Boko Haram in Gwoza'] BBC News, Africa. Retrieved 29 April 2015</ref>