Massacre images from a movie scene |
Amnesty
International on Thursday said that it had satellite
images showing the horrific scale of Boko Haram attack on Baga.
In
a statement, AI said the images provided
indisputable and shocking evidence of the scale of last week’s attack on the
towns of Baga and Doron Baga by Boko Haram militants.
AI
said before and after images of the two neighbouring towns, Baga (160
kilometres from Maiduguri) and Doron Baga (also known as Doro Gowon, 2.5 km
from Baga), taken on 2 and 7 January showed the devastating effect of the
attacks which left over 3,700 structures damaged or completely destroyed.
The
organization said that other nearby towns and villages were also attacked over
this period.
Daniel
Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International said: “These detailed images
show devastation of catastrophic proportions in two towns, one of which was
almost wiped off the map in the space of four days.
“Of
all Boko Haram assaults analysed by Amnesty International, this is the largest
and most destructive yet. It represents a deliberate attack on civilians whose homes,
clinics and schools are now burnt out ruins.”
AI
said the analysis showed just two of the
many towns and villages that fell victim to a series of Boko Haram attacks
which began on 3 January 2015.
According
to AI, in Baga, a densely populated town less than two square kilometres in
size, approximately 620 structures were damaged or completely destroyed by
fire.
It
said: "In Doron Baga over 3,100 structures were damaged or destroyed by
fire affecting most of the 4 square kilometre town. Many of the wooden fishing
boats along the shoreline, visible in the images taken on the 2 January, are no
longer present in the 7 January images tallying with eye witnesses’ testimony
that desperate residents fled by boat across Lake Chad.
"Thousands
of people have fled the violence across the border to Chad and to other parts
of Nigeria including Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. These people are
adding to the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people and
refugees, who have already stretched the capacity of host communities and
government authorities.
Amnesty
International called on the governments of Nigeria and Chad to ensure that
displaced people were protected and provided with adequate humanitarian
assistance.
It
said that the destruction shown in these images matched the horrific
testimonies that Amnesty International had gathered.
"Interviews
with eyewitnesses as well as with local government officials and local human
rights activists suggest that Boko Haram militants shot hundreds of civilians,
Amnesty International said.
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