Boko Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria regularly since 2009, attacking police, schools, churches and civilians, and bombing government buildings. 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 groups brutal tactics have shocked and stunned the world. It has kidnapped students, including more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted in April -- and remain missing. On Saturday, explosives strapped to a girl detonated at a crowded marketplace in Nigeria, killing at least 20 people. Although no one has claimed responsibility, Boko Haram militants are the main suspects. But the scale of the early January attack -- the death of hundreds, possibly thousands -- defies belief. The attacks started at dawn on January 3 and continued throughout the weekend, according to residents. Amnesty International called the massacre Boko Harams deadliest act. 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 Harams ongoing onslaught, said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International. The Nigerian military said the description of the attack as the deadliest was quite valid. The attack on the town by the bloodhounds and their activities since January 3 should convince well meaning people all over the world that Boko Haram is the evil all must collaborate to end, it said.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 17:18:06 +0000
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