Before-and-after photographs show more than 3,100 structures destroyed by fire in villages where hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed
Same Jones and Monica Mark
The Guardian [UK]
15 January 2015
New satellite photographs have laid bare the catastrophic scale of the latest Boko Haram atrocities, which are thought to have left hundreds of people dead and thousands of houses burnt or razed in two Nigerian towns.
The militant group attacked the neighbouring towns of Baga and Doron Baga on 3 January, murdering scores of people and laying waste to their homes. Although initial local estimates put the death toll at 2,000, the Nigerian military has since dismissed the figure.
The satellite images, released by Amnesty International, show the aftermath of the attacks, contrasting pictures taken on 2 January with others taken on 7 January.
The before-and-after photographs of Doron Baga, which lies 1.5 miles from Baga, reveal the ferocity of the onslaught, with more than 3,100 structures damaged or destroyed by fire. Many of the wooden fishing boats that dotted the shoreline on 2 January are no longer visible five days later, when people had fled by boat in panic across Lake Chad…
…Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International, described the Boko Haram assault as “the largest and most destructive” the organisation had analysed…
The complete article is at The Guardian.
Related: Boko Haram’s use of girl suicide bombers intensifies amid terror campaign
Experts say Nigeria’s Boko Haram appears to be increasing its use of a particularly brutal terrorist tactic: forcing abducted girls to blow themselves up in crowded spaces.
Three young female suicide bombers, onethought to be about 10, carried out deadly attacks in crowded marketplaces last weekend…
Update: Suppose Islam Had a Holocaust and No One Noticed
…The Islamic State’s next target is Maiduguri, the largest city in Borno with a population of over a million. Known as the “Home of Peace”, if Maiduguri falls, the death toll will be horrific.
The Catholic Archbishop, Ignatius Kaigama, warned that the killing wouldn’t stop in Nigeria. “It’s going to expand. It will get to Europe and elsewhere.”
Of course it already has, but not on the same scale…
