Islamist militant group Boko Haram has released photos apparently showing a rocket-making factory in north-eastern Nigeria.
The group has used rocket-propelled grenades in the past and many Nigerians have been asking where the weapons have been coming from.
The photos seem to indicate that members of the group have the technical know-how to manufacture weapons.
The pictures are believed to have been taken in a college in Borno state.
They were sent as a Whatsapp messages to the BBC Hausa service using a telephone number from Cameroon, and have also been published on sites linked to so-called Islamic State, which Boko Haram has joined.
Analysts say it looks as though the machinery is from Bama, a town in north-eastern Nigeria recently recaptured from Boko Haram. An inscription on one of the machines shows the abbreviation of Government Technical College Bama (GTCB).
The equipment appears to have been donated to the college by the Educational Trust Fund (ETF) in 2005.
It is not clear when the pictures were taken, or whether the equipment has been moved from Bama.
The army has recaptured most of the towns previously under Boko Haram control but the group still carries out frequent attacks, especially in Borno State, where Bama is located. Image copyright Contributor
Boko Haram at a glance:
Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
Launched military operations from Maiduguri in 2009
Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, hundreds abducted, including at least 200 schoolgirls
Joined so-called Islamic State, now calls itself IS's "West African province"
Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate
Regional force has retaken most territory this year
At
least 14 people were killed in three separate suicide bomb attacks in
Damaturu, northeast Nigeria, on Wednesday, the country's National
Emergency Management Agency said.
NEMA coordinator for Yobe state
Bashir Idris Garga said five died in two blasts outside a shop and a
mosque on a housing estate, while nine were killed at a Fulani
settlement on the city's outskirts.
Some 200 members of the Boko Haram
Islamist militant group have given themselves up, in the biggest such
surrender, Nigeria's army says.
The fighters are said to have handed themselves over in the town of Banki on the border with Cameroon.
The military earlier said the town had been recaptured from Boko Haram but there is no independent confirmation.
Some 17,000 people are said to have been killed in the six-year insurgency, mainly in northern Nigeria.
BBC
Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says dozens of Boko Haram fighters have
given themselves up in recent weeks but this would be the largest group
by far to have surrendered en masse.
An army spokesman told the
BBC they would all be screened to determine their status and they would
then go through the government's de-radicalisation programme. But he added the justice system would take its course.
The military is optimistic that the extremist group will be defeated in the coming weeks.
But
our correspondent notes that exactly a year ago, the military said two
groups of more than 100 Boko Haram fighters had surrendered. That was
then followed by the most violent stage of the conflict as towns and
villages were taken over and thousands of civilians were killed.
This year the security forces have reclaimed most of the territory previously captured by Boko Haram.
The
army has also freed a number of people kidnapped by the militant group
and this week announced that 241 women and children had been rescued
near the border with Cameroon.
Attacks by the Islamist group have intensified since Muhammadu Buhari became president in May, after winning elections.
Boko Haram at a glance:
Founded in 2002, initially focused on
opposing Western-style education - Boko Haram means "Western education
is forbidden" in the Hausa language
Launched military operations in 2009
Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, hundreds abducted, including at least 200 schoolgirls
Joined so-called Islamic State, now calls itself IS's "West African province"
Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate
Regional force has retaken most territory this year
Three blasts have struck the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the army says.
A spokesman blamed the Islamist militant group Boko Haram for the attack. The group was founded in Maiduguri.
Unconfirmed reports say as many as eight people may have died from the blasts.
Boko Haram attacks have spiked in recent months after it was driven from territory it held.
The blasts in Maiduguri reflected the "high level of desperation" in Boko Haram, spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.
The
group wants to establish Islamic rule in the north-east. Two million
people have been forced from their homes since the militants launched
their insurgency in 2009.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari made combating the group a key campaign pledge as he sought election this year.
Image copyright Contributor 
