Satellite images show 2,275 burnt houses in Baga –HRW

An international rights crusader, Human Rights Watch, on Wednesday described as hogwash, military’s claim that the fires that razed thousands of buildings in Baga, Borno State were caused by rocket-propelled grenades  fired by members of the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram.

HRW,  in a statement on its website, said satellite images showed that soldiers may have  set the fires that razed  down  “2,275 buildings  and left 125 others”  in the town  severely damaged.

Calling on the Federal Government to impartially probe the incident,   it said that the military was covering up something  going by the fact that it had vehemently refused to allow journalists access into the troubled community.

There had been reports that 187 persons were killed and about 2,000 houses torched during the April 16, 2013 clash.

President Goodluck Jonathan had last week directed the Defence Headquarters and the National Emergency Management Agency to investigate the incident.  Both organisations submitted their preliminary reports to the President on Monday.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Dr. Reuben Abati,  DHQ’s   findings showed that 30 terrorists were killed during the crisis.It also said that six bodies were recovered in Lake Chad about three kilometres  from the action spot.

In its report, NEMA stated that a number of buildings and business premises were destroyed in Baga. It claimed that the total number of houses in the community was far less than 1,000.

But the HRW, in the   statement by its Africa Director, Daniel Bekele, said that the area damaged by fires measured about 80,000 sq2.

Stating that the fires were detected by the MODIS sensor aboard NASA satellites Aqua and Terra, the rights organisation said its findings corroborated claims by the residents that 2,000 houses and 183 bodies were burnt  during the mayhem.

The group said, “Because of the number of buildings destroyed as well as their distribution across large sections of the town, we believe that such fires were intentionally set and not inadvertently sparked by the detonation of rocket-propelled grenades or improvised explosive devices.

“Such weapons could not ignite fires on such a wide scale, nor could they set fires to non-attached structures. Small arms and light weapons do not contain the amount of explosive or incendiary material to produce such a scale of damage.”

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