2000 feared killed in Nigeria's deadliest attack | World Defense

2000 feared killed in Nigeria's deadliest attack

d4rk3n

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Boko Haram militants opened fire on northern Nigerian villages, leaving bodies scattered everywhere and as many as 2,000 people feared dead, officials said.

"The attack on Baga and surrounding towns looks as if it could be Boko Haram's deadliest act," Amnesty International said in a statement.

Islamist militants sprayed bullets as they stormed in last weekend in trucks and armored vehicles, local authorities said Friday.

When they arrived, they unloaded motorcycles and pursued residents who fled into the bush, firing indiscriminately, said Baba Abba Hassan, a local district head.

Local officials reported death tolls ranging from hundreds to as many as 2,000 people.

"Dead bodies litter the bushes in the area and it is still no‎t safe to go and pick them (up) for burial," said Musa Bukar, the chairman of the local government where Baga is located.

"Some people who hid in their homes were burned alive."

Raid lasted for days

During the raid that started January 3, hundreds of gunmen seized the town of Baga and neighboring villages, as well as a multinational military base.

Attacks started at dawn and continued throughout last weekend, according to residents.

Though local officials gave conflicting death tolls, they agreed on the massive number of fatalities.

More than 2,000 people were killed in attacks on 16 villages, Bukar said. He could not explain how he arrived at that toll.

But the local district head said hundreds of people had been killed, not thousands. The actual toll will be known after a headcount of households is complete, Hassan said.

An offensive is underway to reclaim the areas from the militants, according to Mike Omeri, a government spokesman.

Tens of thousands displaced

At least 30,000 people were displaced, authorities said. About 20,000 of the displaced camped in Maiduguri city, the capital of Borno state.

Authorities are making arrangements to transport the 10,000 others from Monguno town, 60 kilometers (36 miles) from Baga. Some residents fled into neighboring Cameroon and Chad.

"If reports that the town was largely razed to the ground and that hundreds or even as many as 2,000 civilians were killed are true, this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram's ongoing onslaught against the civilian population," Amnesty International's Daniel Eyre said.

Boko Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria regularly since 2009, attacking police, schools, churches and civilians, and bombing government buildings. It has also kidnapped students, including more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted in April and remain missing.

The Islamist group has said its aim is to impose a stricter form of Sharia law across Nigeria, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.

The United States condemned the attacks, saying the group "shows no regard" for human life.

"All those responsible for these recurring terrorist attacks must be held accountable," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Threats against Cameroon

In neighboring Cameroon, President Paul Biya urged the international community to help battle the terror group. His call came after the leader of the terrorist group threatened him in a YouTube video.

"Oh Paul Biya, if you don't stop this, your evil plot, you will taste what has befallen Nigeria. Your troops cannot do anything to us," Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in the video released this week.

The threat against the President came after Cameroonian soldiers killed dozens of Boko Haram fighters this month.

Biya told the international community that a global response is required to combat the terror group.


Source: CNN News
 

UAE

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What's with terrorism spreading all over the world? Can we call this a failure of the UN community to push for peace and stability whenever needed? Who is financing those groups? I mean from where Boko Haram is getting their funds? How are they able to allocate fund and arms. Is there an outsider source that is helping them out? what is there goal exactly? what do they want to accomplish?
 

d4rk3n

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I don't think that UN can be blamed for the attacks. They can provide relief, but they cannot prevent attacks IMO, unless they know where the attack may happen. Terrorists will continue to live, because of difference of opinions, and UN isn't responsible for that.
Just my 2 cents.
 

UAE

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I don't think that UN can be blamed for the attacks. They can provide relief, but they cannot prevent attacks IMO, unless they know where the attack may happen. Terrorists will continue to live, because of difference of opinions, and UN isn't responsible for that.
Just my 2 cents.

If what you are saying is true then how come some UN members are standing against Palestine state. The US has voted against Palestine many times giving Israel a chance to continue the oppression, illegal settlements, demolishing of homes and killing of innocents Palestinians? How come Russia managed to prevent military intervention in Syria for the sake of stability when things went out of hand? They say prevention is better than cure. Providing relief and other humanitarian aids are not going to put an end to bloodshed. So its the duty of the UN to ensure stability in every country in the world rather than acting otherwise.
 

003

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I wonder how the news anchors and news writers react every time they'd report that: "A lot have been killed..."; "A number of ____ have been...". I wonder if they ever get to ask themselves or one another, "When this all be end?". I wonder if they ever get to ask themselves, "That's it?". Or they have been simply numbed by the frequency of the occurrence that without a kind of it, they think the world isn't normal.
 

Dez97

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Well it definitely sucks that this continues to happen time and time again. I feel for the struggles that these people are going through. I completely agree that we can't blame the UN for all of it, because they really don't have control over what terrorists do, they simply have a mind of their own, and we all have not yet came up with an effective way to put them to rest.
 

Redheart

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This is time the international community intervened. They watched ISIS do similar things and decided to act when it was almost too late. Boko Haram has proved they are no better than ISIS and should be dealt with immediately. 2,000 people murdered by militants and those who can help don't bat an eye? The hypocrisy of it all. Terrorists murder French citizens and everyone in the world condemns the act. Boko Haram murders 2,000 Nigerians but the West . . .
 

petesede

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There is no solution. The USA and west have learned that you cannot arm the governments of these countries. The reasons these groups can do what they do is because they outgun the military. The easy solution, you may think, is to give military support to the governments so they can fight the militants themselves. But that has NEVER worked in Africa. The most usual situation is that once the military become powerful, there is a coup. In other situations, the gov´t just does it themselves, and behaves no better than these militant groups. How many times have you heard about African gov´ts slaughtering their own people in certain parts of their country... with weapons we gave them.

The reason we never do anything in Africa anymore is becasue the past has taught us that anything we try to do usually makes the problem worse.
 

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Terrorists everywhere. What has this world come to? No doubt Boko Haram took their cue from ISIS. It was ISIS that gave them the courage to propagate even more evil, seeing as even NATO is struggling so hard to contain them. To kill that many people is sheer genocide. Right now, I have no other wish but for these terrorists to be caught and incarcerated in total darkness.
 

drc65

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Terrorists everywhere. What has this world come to? No doubt Boko Haram took their cue from ISIS. It was ISIS that gave them the courage to propagate even more evil, seeing as even NATO is struggling so hard to contain them. To kill that many people is sheer genocide. Right now, I have no other wish but for these terrorists to be caught and incarcerated in total darkness.
I'm not saying that they should not be incarcerated, but don't you think we could learn from them? By learn, I mean understand their frustrations so we can deal with that problem before they recruit more members.
 

d4rk3n

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Yeah something needs to be done asap about this. And as redheart said it's quite pathetic to see that there was almost no reaction by people on this incident. The France attack was nothing, as compared to this one.
 

Peachdejour

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This has become insanity. Thousands of people are being killed by this group, but it seems like no one is responding. Are their no armies in Africa that can push back? Wasn't a task force sent in to help Nigeria organize to fight them some months back? I feel like this cause has not gotten on the ground. This terrorist cell can just run free and massacre because no one will stop them. It's shameful.
 

d4rk3n

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They have an army but the terrorists outnumber them quite heavily.
I don't know about the peace force though. But I think its now or never, someone needs to intervene.
 

Stims

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If what you are saying is true then how come some UN members are standing against Palestine state. The US has voted against Palestine many times giving Israel a chance to continue the oppression, illegal settlements, demolishing of homes and killing of innocents Palestinians? How come Russia managed to prevent military intervention in Syria for the sake of stability when things went out of hand? They say prevention is better than cure. Providing relief and other humanitarian aids are not going to put an end to bloodshed. So its the duty of the UN to ensure stability in every country in the world rather than acting otherwise.


These are the exact questions that the whole world is asking at the moment! Tragic events, truly tragic that need some explanation.

Somebody is financing these things.
 

Falcon29

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I believe numbers are speculation. But what needs to be addressed is corruption. Corruption in Nigeria has led us to this. They should be a secure state.
 
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