At least 28 people died after Boko Haram, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, attacked three villages in northern Nigeria burning houses to the ground. "The assaults happened in Borno state in the heartland of Boko Haram's increasing rampage," Russia Today quoted local police as saying. "The worst incident, resulting in 20 casualties, was in the town of Kerenua, near the Niger border," the report said. The United States, Britain, France and China last week offered Nigeria help to battle the extremist insurgency in a mission to try to free the schoolgirls who were captured back in April and still remain hostage.