The death toll from a clash between security forces and members of an Islamic sect in northern Nigeria has climbed to 40, even as the region limped back to normalcy. The country's police spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu said that situation has returned to normal in the area following extra effort by the police. He said the security has been beefed up in neighbouring states where similar outbreak of violence was witnessed in the past. The violence in Bauchi started on Monday when a sect called Kala-Kato, an off-shoot of another notorious group Maitatsine, called for the destruction of another faction in a sermon. The sect also sought the killing of those who rejected its teaching prompting residents of the area to call police. Periodically, religious violence erupts in northern Nigerian states. The Kala-Kato sect rejects modernity, including Western- style education and medicine and seeks the adoption of Sharia Islamic law all over Nigeria, which has an equal population of Christians and Muslims. <br/><br/><br/>