Muhammadu Buhari, elected president of Nigeria in March, has intensified the battle against Boko Haram

Nigeria’s military has banned horse-riding in a bid to stop Boko Haram raiding villages on horseback.

The ban in the northeastern state of Borno comes after a sustained air campaign against the Islamist extremists.

Despite losing some territorial control since the election of President Buhari in March, Boko Haram have stepped up suicide bomb attacks and hit-and-run raids on villages, killing at least 1,000 people in six months.

Yesterday, the military said that it had captured a group of Boko Haram “kingpins” who were ferrying supplies of fuel and cannabis to fighters. It mocked the militants for their fondness for “all sorts of drugs including sex-enhancing ones in their enclaves”.

Colonel Tukur Gusau, the military spokesman for Borno, said that supply lines had been cut