On January 21, 2012, BBC News wrote the following update concerning Nigerian violence:

"Co-ordinated attacks by Islamist militants in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Friday killed about 150 people, witnesses and reports say.

"Hospitals are struggling to deal with the numbers of killed and injured.

"A series of explosions ripped apart police buildings, passport offices and immigration centres around the city, which is now under a 24-hour curfew.

"Boko Haram militants said they carried out the attacks, which would be their bloodiest assault to date.

"The group has said it wants to overthrow the national government and install an Islamic state.

"Its members have frequently attacked police stations and other symbols of state power, but the group has also bombed churches and killed hundreds of people - including many Muslim and Christian civilians...

"Boko Haram, which loosely translates from the local Hausa language as 'Western education is forbidden', has been behind a string of attacks in recent years.

"The group wants Islamic law across Nigeria, whose population is split between the largely Muslim north, and the south where Christianity and traditional beliefs predominate."