2009 - Boko Haram launches military campaign for Islamist rule.

July 2009 - Hundreds die in Maiduguri, Borno State, when militants set several churches, a police station and a prison on fire.

September 2010 - The group frees 721 prisoners, including 105 suspected sect members from a jail in Bauchi State, northern Nigeria.

December 2010 - Boko Haram regroups under a new leader, Abubakar Shekau, after the death of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf.

December 2010 – Bomb attacks in Jos, Plateau Sate kill 80 people. Group also attacks barracks in the capital, Abuja on New Year's Eve.

June 2011 - Police headquarters are bombed in Abuja, killing six people. UN headquarters in the city are targeted two months later, killing 18 people, with dozens injured.

November 2011 - About 150 people die in co-ordinated bombing and shooting attacks on police facilities in Damaturu and Potiskum in Yobe State.

December 2011 - Multiple bomb attacks on Christmas Day kill dozens, including 35 at St Theresa's Catholic Church, Madalla, near Abuja.

January 2012 - Bombing kills at least 180 people in Kano, the deadliest attack then.

June 2012 - Offices of Thisday newspaper in Abuja are bombed. More than 100 people die in attacks on three churches in the northern city of Kaduna.

September 2012 - Sect destroys mobile telephone masts in the north belonging to nine telecommunications companies it accused of collaborating with security agents.

September 2012 - Army announces the killing of at least 35 suspected sect members.

November 2012 - Sheik Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez declares ceasefire on behalf of the sect. The move is not respected by other factions as they continue their attacks.

January 2013 - Sheik Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez again declares another unilateral ceasefire on behalf of Abubakar Shekau.

February 2013 - Vice President Namadi Sambo responds positively to the ceasefire offer, but explains that government will come up with an official stand later.