CRI听力:Nigeria Estimates 150 Dead in Boko Haram Insurgency

The Nigerian government is moving to clarify the death toll from a Boko Haram assault in the country's northeast last week.

Nigerian authorities say around 150 people, mostly militants, were killed in the attack.

Local officials had been quoted as saying as many as 2-thousand people were killed in attacks on 16 different villages.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian army says it's actively requesting more international help in its fight against Boko Haram.

"The United States, France, UK and so forth, and China offered to support, but most of those supports are in terms of surveillance, tactical conversations or advice and so forth and so on. So we need to go beyond that. And that is why the Nigerian government is continuing to purchase weapons and military hardware from across the world."

Boko Haram took up arms in 2009 in an attempt to have Sharia Law enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.

Since then, thousands have been killed in the insurgency.

Its support base is mostly in the northeast of Nigeria, where many of its attacks also take place.

Nigeria is divided between a predominantly Muslim north and Christian south.