Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram attacked the northeastern town of Baga for the second time in a week, leaving bodies littering the streets, an official said.
Unconfirmed estimates by victims' relatives put the death toll from violence in and around Baga on Thursday and on Jan. 3 as high as 2,000, Musa Bukar, chairman of local government for the Kukawa district, which includes Baga, said by phone.
The dead are "littered on the streets and surrounding bushes," said Bukar, speaking from a camp in the city of Maiduguri that is sheltering people who have fled the attacks.
On Jan. 3, Boko Haram captured the headquarters of a multinational military force in Baga set up to combat the insurgency. In October, Nigerian authorities said they had agreed to a cease-fire with the group, which has killed thousands in its attempts to impose Islamic law on the country. Since then, violence in the the north has continued unabated.
On Wednesday, a man claiming to be Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, threatened Cameroon President Paul Biya in a video posted on YouTube.
