A new report says at least 11,000 people have been killed as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria.
The estimate comes from researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, who used media reports to compile a database on deadly violence in Nigeria going back to 1998.
In an article published in The Washington Post, the researchers say the Boko Haram conflict has become one of the deadliest in the world.
They estimate than 7,000 people were killed in the 12 months between July 2013 and June of this year, and say casualties from the conflict are piling up at higher rate than those from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The estimate includes casualties caused by Boko Haram attacks and operations by the military, who rights groups accuse of using indiscriminate and heavy-handed violence in an effort to stop the insurgents.
The researchers say that overall, nearly 30,000 Nigerians have been killed since 1998 in various acts of ethnic, religious, political and economic violence.
The country has seen militant groups in the oil-rich south, clashes between Muslims and Christians in the city of Jos, and frequent acts of violence around elections, in addition to the five-year-old Boko Haram insurgency.
