Nigerian troops murdering civilians, claims rights body

Witnesses: 187 killed in mid-april

NIGERIA’S National Human Rights Commission said yesterday it had credible reports security forces were killing, torturing, illegally detaining and raping civilians.

The alleged atrocities were part of the Nigerian government’s fight to halt an Islamic uprising in northeast Nigeria that has killed nearly 2 000 people since 2010.

A report by the commission said troops retaliating against civilians had torched homes and tried to hide evidence of gross violations by disposing of bodies.

In the most egregious case, where troops went on a rampage in several villages after a soldier was killed in mid-April in the fishing village of Baga, it quoted police as saying soldiers “started shooting indiscriminately at anybody in sight including domestic animals. This reaction resulted in loss of lives and massive destruction of properties.”

The military said 36 people were killed, most of them extremist fighters. Witnesses said at the time 187 civilians were killed.

The commission said the killings also came after militants had ransacked an armoury, with subsequent reports indicating the extremists enjoyed an increase the quantity of weapons and “had become both more organised and emboldened by their apparent successes despite the enhanced security presence.”

That contradicted military reports that they have taken control of the region in a military emergency covering three states and one-sixth of the sprawling country.

Instead, they appear to have pushed the fighters into rocky mountains with caves where it is more difficult to flush them out.

The extremists regularly attack towns and villages.

The commission, a government body, issued an interim report saying it would finalise it when its investigators were able to visit the area where soldiers have cut mobile phone and Internet connections.

A state of emergency was declared on May 14 when the government said extremists from the Boko Haram terrorist group had taken control of some towns and villages.

The insurgency poses the biggest threat in years to security in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation of 160 million and the continent’s biggest oil producer.

Communities trapped between the Islamic militants and the security forces “reportedly live in desperate fear and destitution,” the commission said.

It warned of an imminent public health emergency and food shortages because farmers have been forced from their fields.

Militants who began by targeting government personnel and health workers – they preach that Western religion and medicine are forbidden – are increasingly targeting civilians in attacks on schools and vaccination campaigns. — Sapa-AP