New Delhi: The Baga massacre is unarguably one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the modern world in which massacre of numerous people took place in Nigeria. The massacre was series of mass killings which the Boko Haram terrorist group perpetrated in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Baga and its surrounding areas between January 3 and January 7, 2015. In this article, we will look back at the massacre which claimed hundreds, even possibly thousands of lives in Nigeria and led to a large-scale displacement of people.
Why did the Boko Haram attack Baga?
Baga was a base of the Nigerian Army and was the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), an international force whose soldiers came from Nigeria, Niger and Chad. It was formed in 1994 to tackle cross-border security issues and later to combat the insurgency of the Boko Haram. Hence, the terrorist group considered the town of immense strategic importance. It was Northern Borno State’s last major town which the Nigerian Army controlled and was also a military force for international and government foces.
When and how did the attack take place?
On January 3, the Boko Haram started the attack when a large number of its militants captured Baga, the MNJTF headquarters and army base. At that time, only the Nigerian Army was stationed there. The Army resisted the militants but were eventually outgunned and outnumbered, forcing it to retreat.
In the subsequent days, the Boko Haram militants forced the Baga residents to go to the surrounding villages. They burned down local buildings with petrol bombs and explosives and those who did not die in the attacks were killed. They did no spare a single building in the town and even razed down 16 villages and killed their residents or forced them to flee.
The casualties and the refugee crisis
According to the Human Rights Watch, the estimate extent of casualties in the attacks ranged from 12 to 2,000 or more. One person told them that nobody nobody stayed back to count bodies as people were busy escaping Baga at that time.
While the outlets of the Western media reported that more than 2,000 people were killed or the total death toll was unaccounted for, local media reported that a minimum of 100 people died. The Nigerian Ministry placed the death toll at a maximum of 150 people including militants. Many officials of the Nigerian government said that the fatalities were not as extensive as reported and some even claimed that the massacre never took place. The attack displaced at least 35,000 people and as per local human rights activists, daughters of women who escaped were kidnapped. The massacre resulted in a massive refugee crisis and hundreds of people died while trying to cross the Lake Chad.
The 2015 Baga massacre, perpetrated by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent history. Targeting the strategic town of Baga, a Nigerian Army base and MNJTF headquarters, Boko Haram overwhelmed defenses and systematically destroyed the town and surrounding villages. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
