ICC Note:
Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims that at least 2,053 people have been killed by Boko Haram this year alone: making their 2014 campaign of terror the fastest paced killing the West Africa terror network has ever committed. Targeting Christians, moderate Muslims, educators and students, and law and military personnel, Boko Haram’s capacity to use lethal force has increased dramatically in recent years. Heavily armed, equipped with military-grade trucks and camouflage, and well-funded, Boko Haram stands as a more poised than ever to carry out its goal of establishing a separate Islamic state in northern Nigeria to be ruled by the group’s particularly harsh brand of Sharia law.
07/16/2014 Nigeria (VOA) – Human Rights Watch says the Nigerian insurgent group Boko Haram has killed more than 2,000 people in the first six months of this year. It says the attacks amount to crimes against humanity.
HRW’s West Africa Director Corinne Dufka said Boko Haram is “effectively waging a war on the people of northeastern Nigeria at a staggering human cost.”
“We have documented 95 attacks on 70 towns and villages mostly in northeastern Nigeria.”
There have also been attacks on the capital, Abuja.
Conformation of the 2,053 deaths is based on media reports, human rights groups and others.
Dufka said, “We analyzed these reports looking at again credible reports of morgue workers, local officials, civilians, witnesses, who had seen the bodies buried or registered. And we came up with this figure, which is probably conservative.”
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