Up to 2,000 are feared dead in an ongoing massacre after Boko Haram seized Baga, a town on Nigeria's border with Chad in Borno state. Amnesty International cited witness claims that the town was "razed to the ground." Hundreds of bodies remain strewn in the bush, where fighting has continued since the town's military base was overrun by the militants on Jan. 3. Said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International: "The attack on Baga and surrounding towns, looks as if it could be Boko Haram’s deadliest act in a catalogue of increasingly heinous attacks carried out by the group. [T]his marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram’s ongoing onslaught against the civilian population." Meanwhile in Potiskum, Yobe state, at least six people are dead after two suspected child suicide bombers blew themselves up in a market Jan. 11.
Boko Haram violence is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people last year alone. More than a million people are displaced within Nigeria and hundreds of thousands have fled across its borders into Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. Cameroon's President Paul Biya just issued an urgent appeal for international military aid to fight Boko Haram incursions. (AI, Jan. 9; Al Jazeera, Jan. 11; Al Jazeera, Jan. 10; Reuters, Jan. 9)
Boko Haram attack Borno state capital
Boko Haram fighters on Jan. 25 attacked Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, with dozens reported dead. Earlier on that day, Boko Haram captured the northeastern Borno town of Monguno. (BBC News)
More terror in Nigeria
Suicide bombers targeted two crowded bus stations in northern Nigeria Feb. 24, killing at least 27 people. The first explosion, in the northeastern Nigerian town of Potiskum, Yobe state, killed at least 17 people. Several hours later, two men blew themselves up at a crowded bus park in Kano, northern Nigeria's biggest city and capital of Kano state. (VOA)
A suicide blast the previous day at a crowded market in Potiskum left four dead including the bomber—who was said to be a girl as young as 10 years old. (CBS)
Nigerian army retakes Baga?
Nigerian forces backed by air-strikes seized the northeastern border town of Baga from Boko Haram on Feb. 21, the military said, adding that a "large number of terrorist" drowned as they fled into Lake Chad. (Reuters) The number of residents killed when Boko Haram too the town in early January remains a matter of controversy.