Hundreds of corpses still litter
the streets of Baga, a town in
the violence-plagued
northeast state of Borno,
after fighters belonging to the
dreaded Islamist group Boko
Haram carried out one of
their most gruesome assaults
in several years, security
agents and fleeing residents
have told SaharaReporters
“Over ten thousand civilians
have fled their homes with
nothing but their tired legs,”
one resident who escaped
told our correspondent.
A security source added that
the bodies of hundreds of
slain residents still lay in the
open streets unburied.
“Nobody can bury them now,”
said the source, adding that
the town was now completely
overrun by the Islamist
insurgents.
Boko Haram struck last
Saturday at Baga town in
Kukawa local government
area of Borno State, killing
hundreds of civilians and
forcing more than ten
thousand residents to flee to
neighboring countries. The
insurgents also dislodged
troops from a military base,
leaving the town undefended
and deserted.
“The terrorists destroyed
hundreds of houses in Baga,”
said a security source.
According to him, the
insurgents “came with
dozens of vehicles and first
attacked the location of the
multi-national Joint Task
Force.”
Umaru Ali, a fleeing resident,
said the abandoned corpses
included the bodies of
children and elderly men and
women. He added that many
people were killed after they
fled into the bushes. “They
killed hundreds, including
women and children,” he said,
weeping.
Meanwhile, a government
official in Borno State said the
government of neighboring
Chad had disclosed that
close to 10,000 refugees had
crossed into Chad. Some
displaced people also fled to
other neighboring countries,
the source said. In addition,
more than 3, 000 fleeing Baga
residents arrived in
Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital, on Thursday evening.
Governor Kashim Shettima
had ordered that a column of
school buses be sent towards
Baga road to assist scores of
other displaced people still
trekking towards Maiduguri.
The displaced people who
have reached the state capital
are being camped at a newly
completed housing estate
built for teachers.
In a series of daring attacks
that began before the New
Year, Boko Haram seems
determined to expand its
stronghold in the northeast
states of Borno, Adamawa
and Yobe. All three states
have been besieged by a
brutal insurgency that has
lasted more than five years.
The Islamist group has seized
numerous towns and small
communities in the three
states, and declared a
supposed Caliphate. The
group has menaced the
Nigerian border town of
Gamboru/Ngala in Borno and
Buni Yadi in neighboring Yobe
State.
source: http://saharareporters.com/2015/01/09/hundreds-corpses-litter-baga-thousands-flee-neighboring-countries