It is unclear how many people were killed in the fishing town of Baga in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno on April 18th and 19th as a result of fighting between Boko Haram, an extreme Islamist group, and Nigeria's security forces. Some put the death toll as high as 188, with more than 2,000 houses destroyed. Such figures have proved impossible, so far, to verify. The government suggests that the death toll reported by the foreign media "may be grossly exaggerated". What is plain is that an unusually bloody battle took place, that Boko Haram ("Western education is sinful") is as active and violent as ever, and that the security forces are no less ham-fisted in their response, with the result that they often kill more civilians than insurgents. In seeking to snuff out Boko Haram, the army continues to fuel anger among local northerners towards the authorities, if not outright sympathy for the rebels.
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