Boko Haram Nigeria announced that all Boko Haram camps had been destroyed. The group's name has always been "Jamā'atu Ahli is-Sunnah lid-Da'wati wal-Jihād" (), meaning "Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawa and Jihad". It was briefly known as "Wilayat Garb Ifrqiya", meaning "West African Province", between March 2015 and August 2016 while it was a part of the Islamic State. The name "Boko Haram" is usually translated as "Western education is forbidden". Haram is from the Arabic ("ḥarām", "forbidden"); and the Hausa word "boko" (the first vowel is long, the second pronounced in a low tone), meaning "fake", which is
Boko Haram Gwoza, which was believed to be the location of Boko Haram headquarters. On election day 28 March 2015, Boko Haram extremists killed 41 people, including a legislator, to discourage hundreds from voting. In March 2015, Boko Haram lost control of the Northern Nigerian towns of Bama and Gwoza to the Nigerian army. The Nigerian authorities said that they had taken back 11 of the 14 districts previously controlled by Boko Haram. In April, four Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa Forest were overrun by the Nigerian military who freed nearly 300 females. Boko Haram forces were believed to have retreated