Kidnapped girls still missing

Nigeria is in turmoil. Its population is roughly half Christian and half Muslim. Islamist radicals are shooting Christians wholesale and seeking to turn Nigeria into a Muslim state subject to sharia law. Some 1,500 people are said to have died in the first three months of this year.

Recently a bomb exploded near Nigeria's capital city, killing at least 71 people, injuring 124 more, and destroying some 30 vehicles. There was no concrete evidence of who was behind the attack, but Nigeria's Christian president Goodluck Jonathan suspects terrorist group Boko Haram. Boko Haram - its name means "Western education is sinful" - has links with al Qaeda and has been described as the biggest threat to peace and security in West Africa.

Islamic militants killed a large number in an attack on a village in northern Nigeria. One man who escaped the attack said he counted 60 bodies lying around after the militants left.

 More than 200 girls about 16 years old were kidnapped by Boko Haram from their school dormitory before the school was set on fire and surrounding houses looted and torched. For more than two weeks the Nigerian military claimed to be unable to find them. Some 40 girls escaped, but it is believed at least some of the others have been forcibly "married" to their captors and taken to Chad and Cameroon.

How long can this go on?