Nigeria insurgency: Nearly 400 sentenced for links to Boko Haram or Islamic State West Africa Province

Judges handed down sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment following mass trials.

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The convicts were given sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment after linked to Boko Haram or a rival splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap).

The trials came at a time when the government is under intense pressure to curb rising insecurity in Africa's most-populous state. Security forces are battling multiple armed groups, from militant Islamists to separatists, and kidnapping-for-ransom gangs.

Boko Haram launched an insurgency in the north-east in 2009, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing more than two million, aid groups say.

On Wednesday, the US urged its citizens to reconsider travelling to the country because of the deteriorating security situation.