By WILL CONNORS
LAGOS, Nigeria -- A week of brutal violence in northern Nigeria has spurred questions over whether an obscure homegrown religious fundamentalist group represents a broader threat to national security in Africa's most populous nation.
More than 800 people were killed last week during fighting between an Islamic fundamentalist group calling itself Boko Haram, and Nigerian security forces. The clashes spread across several northern states.
A Red Cross worker in the northern city of Maiduguri, where most of the fighting occurred, said that 780 bodies had been collected in the past few days, and that at least 3,600 Maiduguri residents had been displaced. Officials in Bauchi, where the violence began, had earlier confirmed more than 50 deaths.
Rights groups say many civilians were among those killed, though exact figures remain unknown. Police say most of the dead were militants.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in sectarian violence in Nigeria since 1999, often in the so-called Middle Belt, where the predominantly Muslim north meets the Christian south.
But Boko Haram's targeting of its own government, attacking police stations and other official buildings, surprised many observers. Some northern Nigerians, who were aware of previous incidents involving the group, say the government should have seen this coming.
"The group's teachings are not new," said Hassan Karofi, operations manager of the Daily Trust newspaper for the northern region of Nigeria.
President Umaru Yar'Adua also has been criticized for leaving the country as the crisis escalated. The president returned from a trip to Brazil on Saturday, after the fighting had subsided.
Boko Haram, which means "education is prohibited" in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria, has been advocating a withdrawal from Western education and ideals, and for a stricter adoption of Shariah law, already practiced in 12 northern states. The group has convinced followers to drop out of school, quit their jobs and become more focused on living according to its strict guidelines. The exact number of followers of the group isn't known.
Some analysts believe the group gained traction because of growing poverty in northern Nigeria over the years. The emergence of the oil industry in the southern delta region took the government's focus away from agriculture. Growing cities such as Lagos, the economic hub of West Africa, lured the north's residents.
While they were once the agricultural center of a country that was a net exporter of foodstuffs, most of the northern farms now lay fallow. Hundreds of once-humming textile mills are silent. Only five working mills remain.
Security forces have been criticized in the days following the violence for ignoring signs that the group was planning attacks. Police spokesmen in Bauchi, where an attack on a police station last week ignited the recent violence, and in Abuja, the capital, confirmed that the group had been under surveillance for months for "preaching fundamentalism."
Residents of major northern towns and Muslim leaders knew of the group and the radical
teachings of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, for years.
The local Guardian newspaper cited senior security officials Sunday as saying that nearly a dozen confidential reports detailing the "imminent threat" of Boko Haram had been presented to the Inspector General of Police over the last year, but nothing was done.
Federal Police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu confirmed the police had received several security reports concerning the group, and though they had arrested Mr. Yusuf twice, didn't have enough evidence to keep him in jail. "This is a democracy, you can't arrest somebody [again] without evidence," Mr. Ojukwu said by phone from Abuja. "We'd been keeping tabs on them."
Mr. Yusuf had been arrested twice for "inciting public disturbances and subversive activities," according to police, most recently in January, when he was released on bail.
In June, police stopped Boko Haram followers for traffic violations during a funeral procession for two members of the group. Members of the fundamentalist group reacted violently, according to the police, and eight of the Boko Haram followers were killed in the confrontation. Afterward, Boko Haram members publicly threatened to attack police and said they would have their revenge, according to press reports at the time.
Three weeks ago a member of Boko Haram was killed in an explosion in his home. Police said he had been trying to build a bomb.
Adding to the turmoil surrounding the incidents are questions surrounding the death of Mr. Yusuf on Thursday.
A photo obtained by the BBC shows the Mr. Yusuf, with a wound on his arm, being escorted to jail by army officials. Hours later, police officials invited journalists to photograph his bullet-riddled body.
Police say he died while trying to escape custody. Some rights groups have urged an investigation, suggesting Mr. Yusuf was executed while in police custody.
"We're investigating the circumstances that led to his death and the death of other Nigerians," Mr. Ojukwu said.
Many in Nigeria say that the leader's death means critical information about his group is lost.
"Some things might have come out if he had gone to trial," said Zacarys Anger Gundu, a professor at Ahmadu Bello University in the northern city of Zaria, who has been following the incidents. "There are a lot of things we don't know about the group, and killing the leader removes the issue from public scrutiny."
Residents in Maiduguri told reporters many Boko Haram members have shaved their beards and slipped back into daily life, according to reports. "We know it is not finished yet," said Mr. Karofi of the Daily Trust newspaper.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14
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