The group's ambitions range from the stricter enforcement of Sharia law -- which is derived from the Koran as the "world of God" -- across the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria, to the total destruction of the Nigerian state and its government.
The Nigerian government is struggling to control the bloodshed between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south that has claimed more than 3,000 lives since Boko Haram came to prominence in 2009, according to Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also accused Nigeria's military of committing atrocities against civilians.
After raising concerns with Nigeria's foreign minister last May, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said: "The government has acknowledged that there have been some problems ... they're working to try to control it."
Days after a deadly attack on a college in northeastern Nigeria, which the military suspects may have been committed by Boko Haram, we look back at the past year of attacks blamed on -- or claimed by -- the group.
February 26, 2014: At least 29 students die in an attack on a federal college in Buni Yadi, near the the capital of Yobe state, Nigeria's military says.
Authorities suspect Boko Haram carried out the assault in which several buildings were also torched.
February 15, 2014: Dozens of residents in northeastern Nigeria are killed in two separate attacks launched by Boko Haram, according to officials and residents.
They say scores of militants dressed in military uniforms storm the Christian farming village of Izghe, in Borno state, and open sporadic fire on residents, killing at least 106 people in an attack specifically targeting male residents.
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