World News #7 – Baga (Massacre)

Articles

“The attackers sped into a Nigerian town with grenade launchers — their gunfire and explosions shattering the early morning calm.

As terrified residents scattered into bushes in Baga town and surrounding villages, the gunmen unloaded motorcycles from their trucks and followed in hot pursuit.

Residents hid under scant brush. Bullets pierced them.

Some sought refuge in their homes. They were burned alive.

Many who tried to cross into neighboring Chad drowned while trying to swim through Lake Chad.

By the time the weapons went quiet, local officials reported death tolls ranging from hundreds to as many as 2,000 people.

That was January 3, nine days ago.

On Monday, bodies still littered the bushes in the area.

“It is still not safe to go and pick them up for burial,” said Musa Bukar, the chairman of the local government where Baga is located.

No emergency crews will enter the villages where militants are still running amok, local authorities said.

“Baga is not accessible because it is still occupied by Boko Haram,” said Sen. Maina Ma’aji Lawan of northern Borno state.

The strategic Nigerian town borders Chad, giving the extremists better access to both countries.”

– CNN, Nine days later, bodies still litter bushes from Boko Haram’s ‘deadliest’ massacre.

“France is still in shock after the deadly shootings in Paris which left 17 people dead.

But there has been another shocking death toll in recent days with reports of hundreds, possibly thousands, of people massacred by Boko Haram.

Even there the Paris deaths got more press than those in Nigeria, said media analyst Ethan Zuckerman.

He pointed out that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan expressed sympathy to the French but said nothing about Baga.”

– BBC/Amnesty International, Boko Haram massacre is so big, survivors give up counting bodies.