More than 2,000 people are
unaccounted for after radical Islamist sect Boko Haram torched more than
10 towns and villages in Nigeria, a local lawmaker told NBC News. Ahmed
Zanna, a senator for Borno state where the attack happened, said the
militants razed the town of Baga as well as "10-to-20" other communities
in the country's rural northeast over the past five days. "These towns
are just gone, burned down," he told NBC News via telephone. "The whole
area is covered in bodies."
Zanna said he had spoken to residents who fled the towns. They reported that the spree had been ongoing since Boko Haram overran a nearby military base Saturday.
During the days-long assault, the militants chased people out of Baga
before returning to kill those left and torch the buildings to the
ground, according to survivors who contacted Zanna. Some of those who
survived fled on foot the 100 miles south to Maidurguri.
The BBC spoke
to Musa Alhaji Bukar, a senior government official in the area, who also said that 2,000 people had been killed
in the raids. "This is one of the worst attacks I've seen because so
many people are unaccounted for and feared dead," said Zanna, who was
elected in 2011.
Nigeria will hold
general elections on February 14, a ballot many expect Boko Haram will
attempt to disrupt. The group, whose name roughly translates to "Western
education is sinful," has slaughtered and kidnapped thousands and wants
to establish a state in northern Nigeria based on strict Islamic law.
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