He tells refugees he’s been assured by his security chiefs that all the areas under the control of Boko Haram will soon be recaptured.

On his first visit to the region since March 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan spent three hours on the ground in the Borno State capital, Maiduguri.

He met soldiers, wounded troops and visited a camp for thousands of displaced people whom he assured would soon be back in their homes

Some 5000 people from Baga in northern Borno, which was attacked on 3 January, are being helped in the a camp in Maiduguri, says medical charity Doctors Without Borders.

Boko Haram’s attack on Baga is feared to have killed hundreds, if not more, in an upsurge in violence likely aimed at further undermining the legitimacy of presidential elections next month.

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Witnesses in the town of Potiskum, in Yobe state say two girls walked into a market selling cell phones on Sunday and blew themselves up.

The girl bomb carriers as young as 10 years old are either sacrificed by their Boko Haram parents or kidnapped and forced to do the deadly work.

A trader in Potiskum says he saw the plaited hair and upper part of the torsos of the young suicide bombers yesterday.

Four people died in that attack

In Maidiguri a day earlier a 10 year old suicide bomber killed 19 people.

Last month a ten year old girl escaped and told authorities she had been beaten and threatened by Boko Haram militants who tried to force her to strap on an explosive belt and sacrifice herself.

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