Suspected Boko Haram militants mount two deadly attacks after Nigeria...

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Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed several people in two attacks on Nigerian villages that occurred after a government announcement of a ceasefire, security sources and witnesses said on Saturday.

In the first attack, suspected insurgents attacked the village of Abadam on Friday night, killing at least one person and ransacking homes, while another attack on the village of Dzur on Saturday morning left at least eight people dead.

Nigeria's armed forces chief, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, announced on Friday a deal with Boko Haram for a ceasefire that would enable the release of girls whose abduction in the remote northeastern town of Chibok in April caused international shock and outrage.

Nigeria aims to have secured the release of 200 girls kidnapped by Islamist Boko Haram militants by Tuesday, a senior source at the presidency told Reuters on Saturday, although he declined to comment on where the transfer would take place.

"I can confirm that FG (the federal government) is working hard to meet its own part of the agreement so that the release of the abductees can by effected either on Monday or latest Tuesday next week," the source told Reuters by telephone.

Boko Haram, which conveys messages in videotaped speeches by a man claiming to be its leader, Abubakar Shekau, has not yet commented on the ceasefire.

Some Nigerians are likely to greet claims of a ceasefire with scepticism after five years of violence. Since the girls' abduction, Nigeria's military has twice claimed to have rescued some or all of the girls, only to back-track hours later.

Several rounds of negotiations with Boko Haram have been attempted in recent years but they have never achieved a peace deal, partly because the group has several different factions.

The group, whose name translates roughly as "Western education is sinful" has killed thousands of people in its struggle to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria.

REUTERS

Suspected Boko Haram militants mount two deadly attacks after Nigeria "ceasefire"