More than 700 people were killed during a five-day uprising by a radical Islamic sect in Nigeria and the search for bodies is continuing, Red Cross and defence officials said today.
Last week, soldiers and police clashed in several north Nigerian states with followers of Boko Haram, a militant sect which wants Islamic sharia law to be imposed more widely in Africa's most populous nation, but the city of Maiduguri saw the heaviest fighting.
The troubles began last Sunday in Bauchi state, some 400km southwest of Maiduguri, when members of the group - loosely modelled on the Taliban in Afghanistan - were arrested on suspicion of plotting to attack a police station.
Boko Haram followers, armed with machetes, knives, home-made hunting rifles and petrol bombs, then went on the rampage in several cities.
Sect leader Mohammed Yusuf (39) whose base was in Maiduguri, was shot dead on Thursday while in police detention, and the authorities are hoping his killing will end the uprising.
Residents ventured back onto the streets yesterday, banks reopened and soldiers began to withdraw their roadblocks. But the authorities have said house to house searches for Yusuf's followers will continue.
Reuters