Nigeria kidnapping

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) -- With a malevolent laugh, the leader of Nigeria's Islamic extremists tells the world that more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls have all been converted to Islam and married off, dashing hopes for their freedom.

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- An explosion blamed on Islamic extremists rocked a shopping mall in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Wednesday and police said at least 21 people have been killed.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) -- Extremists have abducted 60 more girls and women and 31 boys in weekend attacks on villages in northeast Nigeria, witnesses said Tuesday, another sign of the Nigerian military's failure to curb an Islamic uprising.

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigerian police said Monday they have banned protests in the capital demanding that the government rescue more than 200 girls still held captive by Boko Haram militants.

Nigeria's military chiefs and the president are apparently split over how to free nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists, with the military saying use of force endangers the hostages killed and the president reportedly ruling out a prisoner-hostage swap.

Nigeria's defense chief says the military has located nearly 300 school girls abducted by Islamic extremists but cannot use force to free them.

Rescue workers armed with body bags on Wednesday dug into the rubble of buildings destroyed by two car bombs in a central Nigerian city as people searched for loved ones missing in the market attack that killed at least 118.

Two car bombs exploded at a bustling bus terminal and market in Nigeria's central city of Jos on Tuesday, killing at least 46 people, wounding dozens and leaving streets strewn with bloodied bodies.

Traditional hunters armed with homemade guns, poisoned spears and amulets have gathered in their hundreds, eager to use their skills and what they believe to be supernatural powers to help find nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists.

Leaders from five African nations are gathering in Paris for a summit with officials from the U.S., France and Britain in hopes of coordinating a strategy against Boko Haram, the Islamic extremist group that abducted more than 300 Nigerian girls.