(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The number of children suffering from life-threatening malnutrition across the Lake Chad Basin – about 800,000 – has soared since last year, and could spiral further as Boko Haram ramps up attacks in the region, an aid agency said on Tuesday. The jihadists’ brutal eight-year insurgency has forced millions of people to flee their homes, driven farmers from their land and disrupted aid delivery, leading to a “devastating food crisis”, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).