Aid agencies bury more than 700 people in northern Nigeria following sectarian violence

In the northern Nigerian city of Maidiguru, aid workers say they´ve buried nearly 800 people in several mass graves. The latest violence began last week after an Islamic fundamentalist group known as Boko Haram attacked police facilities in the northern state of Borno.

Nigerian security forces say most of those killed have been militants but local human rights groups are skeptical of those claims, saying the Nigerian military and police have targeted civilians and used force excessively.

To learn more about this situation, FSRN contacted Eric Guttschuss, a Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. Gutchuss recently returned from Nigeria and he is closely monitoring the current situation.

Click here for HRW Report on arbitrary killings by Nigeria security forces.