Nigeria bloodshed: Who are Boko Haram?

At least 29 students died in a February 25 attack on a college in Buni Yadi, northeastern Nigeria, during which several buildings were torched.

The attackers escaped the scene, but Nigeria's military suspects that the militant group Boko Haram, which has wreaked havoc in the region for several years, are the perpetrators.

The Nigerian government is struggling to control the bloodshed between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south that has claimed more than 3,000 lives since Boko Haram came to prominence in 2009, according to Human Rights Watch.

Who are Boko Haram?

Boko Haram means "Western education is a sin." The group's ambitions range from the stricter enforcement of Sharia law -- which is derived from the Koran as the "world of God" -- across the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria, to the total destruction of the Nigerian state and its government.

What's causing the unrest?

Armed militant groups in Nigeria's northeastern region are nothing new, but Boko Haram has taken the violence to unprecedented levels since 2009, murdering and kidnapping Westerners and bombing schools and churches.

In late 2013, Human Rights Watch said Boko Haram had abducted scores of women and girls and used children as young as 13 in their campaign of violence.

The country's immense oil wealth is concentrated in the south, while the predominantly Muslim north remains extremely poor. There were riots and accusations of vote-rigging when former military ruler Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, much of the north's favored candidate for president, lost to Goodluck Jonathan, who hails from the south, in the 2011 national election.

What's the Nigerian government doing about it?
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