Boko Haram killings nearing 1000, says Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch, the global human rights monitoring group, said on Tuesday that killings by the dreaded Islamist Boko Haram sect is nearing 1000 people since it launched its initial attack two years.

“The campaign of violence by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, including attacks on churches and suicide bombings in the first three weeks of 2012 that killed more than 253 people, is an indefensible attack on human life,” said Corinne Dufka, HRW’s West Africa researcher.

The New York-based rights group said from its deduction from media reports from Nigeria, more than 935 people have been killed in about 164 suspected attacks linking Boko Haram since it launched its campaign of shooting and bomb attacks in July 2009,

“The group, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, commonly known as Boko Haram, has carried out increasingly deadly attacks, including suicide bombings, which killed at least 550 people in 115 separate attacks in 2011.

In the first three weeks of January 2012 alone, more than 253 people have been killed in 21 separate attacks,” the rights group said.

The group said it has also tracked media reports of attacks by suspected Boko Haram members over the past two years, adding that the recent Kano attacks is the deadliest, making 2012 the worst in Nigeria’s Boko Haram history.

Human Rights Watch, which noted that the sect has lost all sense of humanity and completely disregard to humanity, said: “In the first three weeks of January 2012 alone, more than 253 people have been killed in 21 separate attacks.”

“Boko Haram’s attacks show a complete and utter disregard for human life,” Mr. Dufka said. “The Nigerian authorities need to call a halt to this campaign of terror and bring to justice those responsible for planning and carrying out these reprehensible crimes.”