People from 4 villages near in Nigeria were forced to leave their homes and flee after the Boko Haram militants told them to leave or face consequences.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed a massive attack on the northeast Nigerian town of Baga and threatened Niger, Chad and Cameroon in a video published online, AFP reported.
Boko Haram insurgents on Tuesday clashed with government soldiers in neighbouring Cameroon.
The insurgents have been stepping up attacks in neighbouring countries as well as inside Nigeria.
The Islamist group's 5-year-old campaign has become one of the deadliest in the world, with around 10,000 people killed last year, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Hundreds, mostly women and children, have been kidnapped, Reuters reported.
Image: Men on camels cross the water as a woman washes clothes in Lake Chad in Ngouboua. Refugees fleeing attacks by Islamist militant group Boko Haram continued to cross the border into neighbouring Chad. Photograph: Emmanuel Braun/Reuters
Image: A man holds a sign that reads "Stop Boko Haram" at a rally to support Chadian troops heading to Cameroon to fight Boko Haram, in Ndjamena. Photograph: Emmanuel Braun/Reuters
Image: Women who have fled violence in Nigeria queue for food at a refugee welcoming center in Ngouboua, Chad. Photograph: REUTERS/Emmanuel Braun
Image: Militia hunters helping the army to fight the Boko Haram insurgence hold a meeting in Yola, Adamawa State. Boko Haram says it is building an Islamic state that will revive the glory days of northern Nigeria's medieval Muslim empires, but for those in its territory life is a litany of killings, kidnappings, hunger and economic collapse. Photograph: Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters
Image: Children displaced as a result of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast region of Nigeria, cheer at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Yola, Adamawa State. Photograph: Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters
Image: People cross Lake Chad in canoes in Ngouboua, Chad. More than one million people may have been forced to leave their homes in northern Nigeria by the five-year-old insurgency of Islamist sect Boko Haram, a United Nations agency said. Photograph: Emmanuel Braun/Reuters
Image: Women displaced as a result of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast region of Nigeria, sit together at a camp for internally displaced people in Yola, Adamawa State. Photograph: Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters