At least 60 people were killed in Boko Haram’s attack on the town of Rann, northeastern Nigeria, Amnesty International said on Friday.
“Using satellite imagery, we have also been able to confirm the mass burning of structures as oko Haram unleashed a massive assault on Rann, most of which is destroyed, added Osai Ojigho, the Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
The number of the dead was provided by members of the Civilian Joint Taskforce, local militias set up by villages to protect themselves from Boko Haram attacks where possible. According to one such member involved in recovering the fatalities of the attack, 11 bodies were found within the town, while an additional 49 were outside the town.
“The soldiers told us that they had buried others,” added the eyewitness.
The are about 50 people still unaccounted for.
Boko Haram attacked the village in the morning of January 28th, killing those who had remained in the village following its January 14th raid.
Rann served as a safe haven for nearly 35,000 internally displaced people, though it was the site of an unfortunate tragedy in January 2017, when the Nigerian Air Force accidentally bombed these IDPs, killing more than a hundred people.
The presence of a military outpost in Rann meant most Boko Haram attacks could be repulsed. The January 14 attack spurred Cameroon to deploy a contingent of its troops in Rann (as part of a multinational joint task force). The Cameroonian troops were however withdrawn on Sunday January 27. It is alleged that the Nigerian contingent also decided to withdraw.
Following this abandonment, residents of Rann began fleeing for Cameroon, though some were unfortunately still in Rann when Boko Haram attacked the following day.
It is estimated that the attack displaced nearly 30,000 people, who have fled to safety in Cameroon.
By Matengo Chwanya
Africa Global News Publication
