The violence erupted seemingly out of the blue in a city called Maiduguri, when a police officer stopped a group of Boko Haram members for not wearing motorbike helmets and in the argument that ensued several were shot and wounded by police. A few days later on the 26th of July over 50 people were killed when nearly 70 militants attacked a police station in Bauchi with guns and grenades. That seems like a massive step up from the previous incident, and to put 50 people dying in perspective, 52 people were killed in the 2005 7/7 bombings – that’s some serious shit.

Two days later the violence escalated drastically, with the police engaging in gun battles all across Maiduguri and the shelling of Mohammed Yusufs compound. It’s a crazy thought that the situation got so bad, so quickly that the security forces were forced into using mortars in a confined, civilian area. On the 30th of July 100 militants were confirmed to have been killed, along with several Nigerian policeman but Mohammed Yusuf was captured and was later shot in captivity whilst “attempting to escape”. Yeah, because we haven’t heard that one before Nigeria.

A statement from the Red Cross later confirmed that up to 780 people had been killed in the clashes, which is ridiculously high considering most of those are civilians who were just minding their own business. Imagine for a second that level of violence happening in a Western city such as London, doesn’t really bear thinking about.