Violence linked to radical Islamist group Boko Haram has forced nearly 300,000 people, more than half of them children, to flee their homes in northeast Nigeria since May 2013, the United Nations said on Thursday.
When the military launched a massive offensive to stamp out the insurgency, which has killed thousands since 2009, three states in the region have been under emergency rule since May 14, 2013, Agence France-Presse reported.
As waves of attacks across a swathe of remote territory have made it impossible for most rescue agencies to operate, credible figures, including for casualties, have been difficult to obtain.
But the UN's humanitarian office, OCHA, said a total of 290,002 people have been internally displaced in the three states under emergency rule - Adamawa, Borno and Yobe - as of January 1, 2014, according to AFP.
The OCHA said the aggregated figures were "verified and conservative estimates" based on reports from humanitarian, development and relief agencies working in Nigeria.
With 189,318 displaced, the population in Borno - the epicenter of the conflict and where Boko Haram was founded more than a decade ago - has been the hardest-hit.
In Yobe, the figure was 71,491, and in Adamawa, 29,193, AFP reported.
"Citing figures provided by Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, the UN said 51 percent of those displaced were children," AFP reported. "The OCHA said that providing assistance to those affected has been a challenge because of the continuing unrest."
The violence has continued unabated even though the UN has not collated figures for those displaced in 2014.
From August last year to the end of January, the International Red Cross said it had helped provide more than 18,000 people in Borno with shelter and essentials, including food.
More than 300 people have been killed already this year, including 43 students who were slaughtered while they slept at a secondary school in Yobe on Tuesday, AFP reported.
In Adamawa late on Wednesday, hundreds of suspected militant fighters besieged a town, destroying homes and businesses with heavy weaponry and explosives.
