International force to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria?

As Islamic militants from Boko Haram step up attacks in Nigeria that have led to the slaughter of more civilians, there is increasing talk that international military action, possibly including a multinational force, may be needed to help crush the insurgency in Africa’s most populous country. Satellite images of the “catastrophic” attacks on two towns in Nigeria by Boko Haram militants have been released by Amnesty International. The campaign group says the pictures, taken on January 2 and 7, provide “indisputable and shocking evidence” of the scale of the assaults on Baga and neighbouring Doron Baga. It believes hundreds of people were killed and that over 3,700 structures were either damaged or destroyed in the attacks.

(They) took around 300 women and kept us in a school in Baga. They released the older women, mothers and most of the children after four days but are still keeping the younger women.

A female eyewitness

Other nearby towns and villages in northeastern Borno state were also targeted by the Islamists between January 3 and 7. ”These detailed images show devastation of catastrophic proportions in two towns, one of which was almost wiped off the map in the space of four days,” said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty. Since 2009, Amnesty says, thousands of people have been killed, hundreds abducted and hundreds of thousands forced to leave their homes by Boko Haram.

Africa