The UN on Tuesday said that the latest wave of Boko Haram’s “vicious, ruthless attacks” in northeastern Nigeria had sent 11,320 people fleeing into Chad in a matter of days.
The Muslim group stormed the town of Baga on Jan. 3, and subsequently razed it and at least 16 surrounding settlements.
While it has been impossible for aid workers to enter the area to verify accounts of the slaughter and of corpses rotting in the streets, the attack is feared to have been the worst massacre since Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency began in 2009.
Photo: EPA
In a sharp condemnation, the African Union denounced the group’s “despicable attacks” in parts of Nigeria and elsewhere in the region.
About 20,000 people are said to have fled their homes in the Baga area since the attack, and the UN refugee agency said that about 11,320 people had arrived in neighboring Chad alone.
Sixty percent of the new arrivals in Chad were women and girls, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler told reporters, adding that 84 unaccompanied children had also crossed over.
Another 2,000 people had become stranded on an island in Lake Chad during their desperate escape, he said, adding that UNHCR was working to transport them to the mainland.
Meanwhile, the US urged Nigeria to go forward with planned Feb. 14 presidential and legislative elections, despite the “horrific” attacks.
The US Department of State declined to give any specific figures for the number of people killed in the attacks.
“We’re still trying to get more confirmation of the death toll,” US Department of State deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
However, she added that “there has been a sharp escalation in the number of reported casualties.”
“We’ve obviously all seen the reported number shift this week, which we can’t confirm exactly, but, you know, it clearly shows there’s been a sharp escalation,” Harf said.
The US official, whose government is allied with Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram, reiterated the call for the presidential and legislative elections not to be delayed.
“We do think that the election is probably a factor” in the violence in northeastern Nigeria, but “we believe the election should still go forward even in the face of this pretty horrific violence,” the spokeswoman said.
On Tuesday, Nigeria’s electoral commission said the votes will go ahead in three northeastern states worst hit by Boko Haram violence, but warned there was little prospect of voting in militant-held areas.
There are a total of 14 presidential candidates, including Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and former Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari, contesting the presidential poll. The legislative votes are to be held the same day.
Elsewhere, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in the northeastern city of Gombe on Tuesday, killing at least two other people and wounding 14 during prayers, a Red Cross official and witnesses said.
Gombe is just outside the main area of operations of Boko Haram and has been attacked several times in the past few months.
“We were holding prayers when we heard a loud explosion,” witness Musa Usman told reporters by telephone. “We rushed out of the mosque. There were so many people injured on the ground.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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