Shootout in Nigerian capital with Boko Haram

A shootout between extremists and Nigerian security forces rocked the nation's capital early Friday, according to a Nigerian security official, AP reported. It is the first violence from the radicals of Boko Haram in Abuja this year and highlights Nigeria's continuing security problems from the extremists. The gunfight in the capital occurred as Nigerian officials were recovering bodies in Benisheik, in northern Nigeria, where 143 civilians were killed by suspected Boko Haram fighters. The killings in Benisheik took place on Tuesday and represent one of the highest death tolls in the Islamic uprising in northeast Nigeria. Together the gunfight in the capital and the mass killings in the northeast challenge the Nigerian military's insistence that it is winning the war against the extremists since a state of emergency was declared May 14.