Thursday, 8 January 2015

Corpses Litter Bushes In Baga As More IDPs Seek Refuge In Maiduguri

By Blogger

Hundreds of unattended corpses – mostly those of children, women and the aged who could not run when the Boko Haram came calling on the fishing community – littered the bushes around Baga town, as those who are lucky to be alive made their way into Maiduguri, the state capital.

The Boko Haram, it was reported, also dislodged a major military base of the Joint Task Force (JTF), fleeing residents say.

There are wild claims that over 2000 persons may have been killed – a figure that was, however, doubted by the senator representing Borno North senatorial district, Maina Maaji Lawan, in a radio interview on Thursday.

The District head of Baga, Baba Abba Hassan, also denied the claims that over 2000 persons may have been killed, even though he did agree that those killed may well be counted in hundreds.

He said: “There was no new attack on Baga on Wednesday, as we hear it being aired in the news today (Thursday).

“I cannot tell you the actual number of people killed, because many were pursued to the bushes and killed. I can say hundreds, including women and children, have, so far, been killed.

“The terrorists have also destroyed hundreds of houses in Baga, because they were well prepared. They came with dozens of vehicles and first attacked the location of the multi-national Joint Task Force".

The local monarch said when soldiers at Multinational Joint Task Force base in Baga were dislodged, the youth Vigilante, otherwise known as Civilian Joint Task Force had tried to resist the Boko Haram by killing many of them until they were outgunned by the terrorists. 

“There was resistance initially by our Civilian-JTF but later, the insurgents had upper hand. They remained in Baga since the first day of the attack. They also pursued our people to the bushes and killed them,” he said.

Muhammed Abbas Gava, an official of the local Vigilante told Leadership Friday on phone last night that "the human carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous".

"Our members of the  Vigilante Group of  Nigerian that managed to escape from Baga said they ran out of count of corpses of women, children and aged persons killed in the bushes around Baga. No one could attend to the corpses and even the seriously injured ones who may have died by now", said Gava.

Leadership Friday can confirm that hundreds of displaced persons from Baga had since Friday begun to arrive Maiduguri mostly on foo. Borno state government had ordered that school bushes should be deployed towards Baga road to help the refugees get to Maiduguri where they are now being camped at a newly completed housing estates built for teachers. 

No comments: