Dozens more Boko Haram members arrived at another village, Bargari, disguised as preachers and assembled all those living in the village, ostensibly to teach Islam.
Days later, Nigerians opened newspapers blasting fears of more Boko Haram attacks to find President Goodluck Jonathan urging them "not to despair" because his government is "winning the war against terror".
In any case, the deal would have entailed a swap of prisoners, including militant leaders, which might have stoked the war all the more.Boko Haram, which started out by assassinating provincial officials from the backs of motorbikes, has become an able fighting force.
And that made the calls of Boko Haram more appealing, and has driven people to join its ranks.
The mass abduction of schoolgirls in April made the threat of violence tied to Boko Haram more visible to the rest of the world.
While increased use of explosives and bombs – thanks to training from other terrorist outfits – has characterised more recent Boko Haram attacks, the majority of attacks remain armed assaults using machine guns.
Nigeria's military has announced it has recaptured Baga from Boko Haram, more than a month after the town was overrun in the worst massacre of the Islamist terror group's six-year insurgency.
"Despite the one martyr's death, it is clear that things go more smoothly when Haram al Sharif is in our hands," a senior Palestinian official said, using the Arabic term for Noble Sanctuary.
One of the Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram more than two years ago has been rescued, along with her 10-month old boy fathered by one of the kidnappers.
This month 12 soldiers from the division were sentenced to death by firing squad for mutiny .The army probably only has 8,500-12,000 combat-ready troops in the state, which might not be that much more than Boko Haram," says Jacob Zenn, an analyst for the Jamestown Foundation, an American think-tank.
