20111226
AP
A look at recent major attacks in Nigeria attributed to the radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram:

— Dec. 25: Boko Haram claims responsibility for an attack on a Catholic church in Madalla near Nigeria's capital that kills 35 people and wounds 52. The sect shoots and kills a police officer after a failed bombing at a church in Jos, as a suicide bomber detonates a car full of explosives outside the Yobe state office for the country's secret police, killing three.

— Dec. 22-24: Sect members fight with police and military forces around the city of Damaturu, leaving at least 61 people dead.

— Nov. 4: Sect members bomb government buildings and shoot their way through the city of Damaturu, killing more than 100 people, while bombs and a suicide attack in Maiduguri leave 4 dead.

— Aug. 26: A sect member detonates a car loaded with explosives at the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja, killing 24 people and wounding another 116.

— June 16: A car loaded with explosives detonates at the federal police headquarters in Abuja, killing at least two people. Police first call the attack a suicide bombing, but later deny it.

— April 9: Gunmen from the sect set fire to the Maiduguri International Hotel and kill a politician ahead of local elections.

— April 8: A bomb allegedly planted by the sect explodes at an election office in Suleja in Niger state, killing 16 people.

— Jan. 28: Gunmen with the sect shoot and kill the leading candidate for governor in Borno state along with six others in his entourage.

— Dec. 31, 2010: A bomb allegedly planted by the sect explodes at a crowded and popular outdoor beer garden at a military barracks in Abuja, killing at least four people.

— Dec. 24, 2010: A series of bombs allegedly planted by the group explode in the central Nigerian city of Jos, killing as many as 80 people.

— Sept. 7, 2010: Gunmen with the sect free about 700 inmates from a Bauchi federal prison.

— July 2009: About 700 people die after sect members riot and a security crackdown hits Maiduguri, the sect's spiritual home.