SATELLITE IMAGES RELEASED by Amnesty International today provide an insight into of the scale of last week’s attack on the towns of Baga and Doron Baga by Boko Haram militants.
Before and after images of two neighbouring towns, Baga (160 kilometres from Maiduguri) and Doron Baga (also known as Doro Gowon, 2.5km from Baga), taken on 2 and 7 January show the devastating effect of the attacks which left over 3,700 structures damaged or completely destroyed.
Other nearby towns and villages were also attacked over this period.
“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 International.
“Of all Boko Haram assaults analysed by Amnesty International, this is the largest and most destructive yet. It represents a deliberate attack on civilians whose homes, clinics and schools are now burnt out ruins.”
On top is an image of Baga, North Eastern Nigeria, taken on 2 January 2. Many thatch roof structures are visible. These have been rebuilt since a previous attack on Baga in April 2013.
In the bottom image of Baga taken on 7 January, many of the thatch roof structures have been razed. The dark colour represents burned areas, while the read indicates heathy vegetation.
The top image here shows the village of Doron Baga (aka Doro Gowon) in north-eastern Nigeria taken on 2 January. The image shows an example of the densely packed structures and tree cover.
Satellite image 2, taken on 7 Jan 2015, shows almost all of the structures razed. The inset demonstrates the level of destruction of most structures in the town. The red areas indicate healthy vegetation.
This image shows a busy fishing port on 2 January (on the left). Five days later, all of the boats are gone.
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