Foreign Affairs

bemildred

(90,061 posts) Fri Jan 9, 2015, 09:14 AM Jan 2015

'Burned to the ground': Boko Haram razes at least 16 Nigerian villages

Boko Haram razed at least 16 towns and villages in northern Nigeria and may have killed up to 2,000 people since the weekend, officials said Thursday.

After capturing a key military base in northeast Nigeria on Saturday, members of the feared armed group used crude bombs to level entire towns, according to local authorities.

Musa Bukar, head of the Kukawa local government area, told BBC News 16 communities were “burned to the ground” and that corpses were strewn across the town of Baga, the site of a Nigerian military base.

Bukar said Boko Haram used gasoline bombs and explosives to destroy Baga and surrounding villages on the shores of Lake Chad.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/8/nigeria-bokoharamattack.html

3 replies

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'Burned to the ground': Boko Haram razes at least 16 Nigerian villages (Original Post) bemildred Jan 2015 OP

Horrible. 840high Jan 2015 #1

Yep. nt bemildred Jan 2015 #2

Nigerian Forces Counter-Attack Against Boko Haram; Hundreds of Deaths Reported bemildred Jan 2015 #3

840high

(17,196 posts)

1. Horrible.

Reply to bemildred (Original post)

Fri Jan 9, 2015, 12:32 PM

Jan 2015

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

2. Yep. nt

Reply to 840high (Reply #1)

Fri Jan 9, 2015, 12:45 PM

Jan 2015

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

3. Nigerian Forces Counter-Attack Against Boko Haram; Hundreds of Deaths Reported

Reply to bemildred (Original post)

Fri Jan 9, 2015, 04:29 PM

Jan 2015

DAKAR, SENEGAL—

Nigerian forces have launched counter-attacks against Boko Haram militants holding a northeastern town where hundreds of civilians may have been slaughtered and thousands forced to flee, an official said Friday.

The fight for the town of Baga is turning into one of the bloodiest in recent months as the Nigerian government struggles to stem the campaign of violence and terror that the Islamist group has waged in northeastern Nigeria.

Nigerian troops were driven from the military base in Baga on January 3 after an intense gunbattle. Officials said that since then, militants have burned down much of Baga and surrounding villages, prompting thousands to flee to islands in Lake Chad or the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

A Nigerian government spokesman, Mike Omeri, said Friday that security forces have been engaged in intense fighting and have been "actively pursuing militants" since Baga was first attacked Saturday. He said Nigerian air force jets have also hit militant targets.

http://www.voanews.com/content/senator-boko-haram-attacks-northeast-nigeria/2590776.html

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