THE UK will increase its military and educational aid to help Nigeria tackle Boko Haram, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced.

He said Nigeria's army would receive extra training, especially in counter-insurgency, and a million more children would be given schooling.

This is the latest promise of Western help since Boko Haram abducted some 200 schoolgirls in April.

Since then, the Islamist group has stepped up its attacks.

Hague was speaking at a summit in London.

It follows last month's summit in Paris where regional powers pledged to share intelligence and co-ordinate action against the group and its five-year insurgency.

Boko Haram has waged an increasingly bloody insurgency since 2009 in an attempt to create an Islamic state in Nigeria. Thousands of people have died in their attacks and the subsequent security crackdown.