Nigerian Village's Destruction Is Shown in Photos Pius Utomi Ekpei/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images A Nigerian soldier stood guard in Baga on Tuesday. Perhaps more than 200 civilians were killed there in what survivors said was a rampage by soldiers. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Satellite images corroborate the accounts of residents of a fishing village north of here who say that thousands of their homes were destroyed by fire during a recent storm of violence carried out by rampaging soldiers, according to Human Rights Watch. The images show "massive destruction of civilian property" during a military raid on April 16 and 17, the organization said in a statement released early Wednesday. The raid was set off by a clash between gunmen presumed to be members of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram and a military unit based in the town, in which one soldier was killed. Residents said the soldiers then retaliated randomly against civilians, burning their houses and shooting them. Perhaps more than 200 civilians were killed, they said. The satellite photographs show about 2,275 destroyed buildings, Human Rights Watch said, "undermining the military's claim that only 30 houses were destroyed." The group also said that the high number of burned buildings and "their distribution across large sections of the town" indicated that the fires had been "intentionally set and not inadvertently sparked by the detonation of rocket-propelled grenades or improvised explosive devices," as some in the military have said in attributing the carnage to Boko Haram. The Human Rights Watch assessment was consistent with the accounts of residents, who said soldiers had set the fires as a form of sweeping retribution for the death of one of their own. In interviews last week in Maiduguri, the state capital, refugees said soldiers doused homes with gasoline before setting them ablaze, with occupants inside. Residents also said soldiers indiscriminately shot at civilians, sometimes picking them off as they fled the flames. For now, Nigeria's government appears to be standing by earlier military denials of mass civilian casualties at the village, Baga, a standard response after similar episodes in the past. The local commander said last week that only six people had died, although the federal senator who represents Baga, Maina Lawan, told Human Rights Watch and the Nigerian press that more than 220 residents were buried after the disaster. In an unusual acknowledgment of possible culpability by the government, however, the Nigerian news media quoted President Goodluck Jonathan as saying this week that "investigations must continue."