Heavy fighting between Nigerian troops and suspected Islamist insurgents has killed 187 people and injured 77 others, with massive blazes that raged after the clashes leaving nearly half the town destroyed, the Red Cross said Monday. The bloodshed in the remote north-eastern town of Baga likely marks the single deadliest event in the insurgency being waged by Boko Haram, the radical Islamist group blamed for scores of attacks in northern and central Nigeria since 2009.
Conflicting reports have emerged of the fighting that broke out Friday, but residents and officials have said the high death toll included soldiers, insurgents as well as scores of civilians. "So far 187 dead have been buried, while 77 are under admission in hospitals," Red Cross Spokesman Nwakpa O. Nwakpa told AFP. More than 300 houses in the fishing town on the shores of Lake Chad "were burnt down", he added. Another rescue official who did not want to be named said "40 percent of the town has been gutted by fire". Baga lies in Borno state, the home base of Boko Haram, but the town had not previously been known as the site of such heavy fighting.