Local residents in Baga in the Northern Nigeria state of Bono have told reporters that an intense fighting between the military and militant group Boko Haram has left about 185 people dead in the town.
Residents said the fighting started on Friday evening amid Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy gunfire bombarding the remote town of Baga near the border with Chad for hours.
Close to 2,000 homes were reportedly destroyed in addition thereby causing many of the dead being trapped inside their rooms.
The dead include civilians, militants and some of the military personnel who battled the militants. There were reports of children casualties as well.
The Associated Press quoted one resident as saying that they fled the town to the bush and only returned on Sunday afternoon to see that their houses have been destroyed.
“Everyone has been in the bush since Friday night; we started returning to town because the governor came.
“To get food to eat in the town now is a problem because even the markets are burnt. We are still picking corpses of women and children in the bush and creeks.”
Residents also said most of the bodies had been burned beyond recognition in blazes that had devastated much of the town.
Local official Lawan Kole said that 185 people – including civilians, members of the security forces and militants had been buried on Sunday.
But the Bono State military spokesman Lt Col Sagir Musa told the Agence France Presse that the figure had been exaggerated.
“On my honor as an officer, nothing like that happened to my knowledge, such reported figure in the media would have been highly unthinkable”, he said.
This latest attack comes after President Goodluck Jonathan officially backed an amnesty talks with the militants by setting up a committee start talks with the militants.
The committee will consider dialogue and disarmament in 60 days after which the report of the committee will be implemented.
The committee is made up of 25 members include military figures, academicians and politicians who primary duty will be to address the underlying causes of insurgencies and to find solutions to prevent them recurring again.
Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News
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