ICC Note
In the last 5 months, Boko Haram has killed nearly 400 people in Northeastern Nigeria and Cameroon. This is nearly double the number killed in the previous 5 months. This also comes during the Nigerian Military’s biggest push to end Boko Haram. President Buhari had given a command to capture the terrorist leader Abubakar Shekau over a 40 day period which ended recently in failure. The most disturbing part of these attacks is the steep increase of suicide bombers being used by Boko Haram, the majority of whom are women and children. These women and children are taken and then forced to carry bombs into crowded areas and kill themselves. There have 4 times as many children used so far this year as compared to all of last year.
2017-09-07 Nigeria (Aljazeera) A surge in attacks by Boko Haram fighters has claimed nearly 400 lives since April in Nigeria and Cameroon, double the figure of the previous five months, according to a rights group.
The increasing use of suicide bombers – often young women and girls forced to carry and detonate explosives in crowded areas – has killed at least 381 civilians in the two countries, Amnesty International group said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Boko Haram is once again committing war crimes on a huge scale, exemplified by the depravity of forcing young girls to carry explosives with the sole intention of killing as many people as they possibly can,” said Alioune Tine, Amnesty International’s director for West and Central Africa.
“This wave of shocking Boko Haram violence, propelled by a sharp rise in suicide bombings, highlights the urgent need for protection and assistance for millions of civilians … Governments in Nigeria, Cameroon and beyond must take swift action to protect them from this campaign of terror.”
Amnesty said at least 223 civilians died in Nigeria since April, underscoring that the real toll could be far higher.
“Between May and August, seven times more civilians were killed than in the preceding four months, while 100 civilians were killed in August alone,” it said.
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