Boko Haram bomb mosque in suicide attacked, file photo
from AHMED OBAFEMI in Maiduguri, Nigeria
MAIDUGURI, (CAJ News) – THE Boko Haram terror group has killed around 35 000 people since it began its insurgency in Nigeria ten years ago.
Officials from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) disclosed the figures at the commemorations of World Humanitarian Day. The event is marked annually on August 19.
“These are 35 000 deaths too many,” stated Peter Ekayu, head of UNOCHA, in Nigeria.
He disclosed that 37 aid workers had been killed since the beginning of the conflict.
While the killings are largely attributed to the Boko Haram, six aid workers were among 115 people killed when a Nigerian Air Force jet mistakenly bombed a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) near the Cameroonian border in 2017.
The armed forces mistook it for a Boko Haram encampment.
Boko Haram’s terror attacks are largely in the northeastern state of Borno but sporadic attacks have been recorded in the Adamawa and Yobe, also in the region.
It was earlier estimated 20 000 civilians had been killed.
More than 2 million people have been displaced in what is one of world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
– CAJ News