Boko-Haram-1.jpg?width=550GUEST: Ajamu Baraka is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, and a foreign policy expert.

Last week’s shocking headline that Boko Haram “may have killed 2000 people,” in Nigeria, was eclipsed by wall-to-wall coverage of the armed attack in France that left 20 people dead. Rebel soldiers from the militant group Boko Haram stormed the town of Baga in the Northeastern Nigerian state of Borno on January 3rd, coming in from a number of sides simultaneously. International soldiers who had been protecting the town fled, leaving residents to defend themselves. Hundreds of people attempted to flee, swimming across Lake Chad, and are thought to have drowned. Amnesty International and other groups have reported that the death toll may have been as high as 2000 – the single worst casualty rate attributed to Boko Haram to date.

And then this past weekend, three suicide attacks carried out in two separate incidents left nearly 2 dozen people dead. Horrifically, the attacks were the result of bombs being strapped to children. One of the incidents took place on Saturday in a market in Maiduguri, when 19 people were killed after explosives attached to a 10-year old girl were detonated.

The conflict, which has gone on for years, has reached a breaking point and now spilled over the border into Cameroon with reports this week of a Boko Haram attack on a Cameroonian military base. Clashes between the Nigerian military and Boko Haram forces are also on-going. The Archbishop of Jos, in Central Nigeria, Ignatius Kaigama, this week openly accused the international community of ignoring the crisis in his nation.

The Frightening Rise in Boko Haram’s Violence in Nigeria

Published 13 Jan 2015, 10:15 am |

To find out more about Ajamu’s work, visit www.ajamubaraka.com.

- See more at: http://uprisingradio.org/home/2015/01/13/the-frightening-rise-in-boko-harams-violence-in-nigeria/#sthash.XGE9gpvu.dpuf

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