(NBC News) Intensifying violence perpetrated by Islamist radicals and government troops in Nigeria has for the first time claimed more than 10,000 lives in just 12 months, according to new figures.
The rate of violence in Africa’s most populous country is comparable to the civilian death toll in Iraq, where a U.S.-led coalition is fighting ISIS.
Nigeria’s bloodiest year is the result of a relentless insurgency by the Islamist sect Boko Haram. Bombings, shootings and kidnappings have become weekly events, and the group is estimated to control an area of northeast Nigeria the size of Rhode Island.
