The United Nations on Tuesday said that the latest wave of Boko Haram’s “vicious, ruthless attacks” in northeastern Nigeria had sent 11,320 people fleeing into Chad in a matter of days.
The Islamist group stormed the town of Baga on January 3, and subsequently razed it and at least 16 surrounding settlements.
While it has been impossible for aid workers to enter the area to verify accounts of the slaughter and of corpses rotting in the streets, the attack is feared to have been the worst massacre since Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency began in 2009.
Some 20,000 people are said to have fled their homes in the area since the attack, and the UN refugee agency said Tuesday that some 11,320 people had arrived in neighbouring Chad alone.
A full 60 percent of the new arrivals in Chad were women and girls, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters, adding that 84 unaccompanied children had also crossed over.