- Survivor tells of horror in Baga after assault by Islamist terror group
- More than '500 women and children' kidnapped by militants
- Some have been released, but younger women remain captive
- Comes after satellite images showed destruction of towns by terror group
- Showed that 3,700 buildings including homes and schools were destroyed
- One witness says terrorists shot and killed a woman who was in labour
- Nigerian President makes surprise visit to Boko Haram heartland
- Goodluck Jonathan promised to tackle reign of terror
- Told people displaced by attack they would be able to return home
Published:
14:32 GMT, 16 January 2015
|
Updated:
16:55 GMT, 16 January 2015
Islamist
terror group Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of women and children at
a school following a massive attack on the town of Baga earlier this
month, according to an eyewitness.
Kaltuma
Wari, who was released by the fanatics earlier this week, claimed in a
phone call that 'there were over 500 women and hundreds of children'
held by the militants.
While
some were released after four days, hundreds of others - mainly young
women - were still in the hands of the bloodthirsty murderers with no
immediate news of their condition available.
The
terror group shocked the world last year when its fighters kidnapped
276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in the town of Chibok, in
Nigeria's north-east. Dozens escaped, but 219 remain missing.
Their
disappearance prompted a social media campaign with #bringbackourgirls,
which was supported by Michelle Obama, First Lady of the USA.
Scroll down for video
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Innocent victims: Kidnapped
schoolgirls are seen at an unknown location in this image taken from a
video released by Boko Haram. The girls went missing in April 2014.
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Support: Michelle Obama backed the #bringbackourgirls campaign after the kidnap by Boko Haram
Wari,
40, said Boko Haram fighters took her to a girls' boarding school in
Baga after she went into the streets to look for her husband and six of
her nine children.
The
women and children were kept in dormitories, classrooms and in the
open, despite the cold weather caused by the seasonal winds, she said.
She
added: 'They didn't touch any woman but they paid more attention to
young women. They kept watch on them and they were always accompanied by
gunmen wherever they went, even to the bathroom.'
During her time at the school, Wari was forced to cook for the militants.
Many
of the women refused to eat out of worry for their loved ones, and she
added: 'Some of us turned hysterical and I was one of them.
'They got fed up with us and (on Wednesday) around 2pm (1300 GMT) they singled us out and asked us to leave the town.
'We were around 100, all of us mothers. They would never allow any young woman to leave.'
'Boko
Haram took around 300 women and kept us in a school in Baga', one
unnamed woman was quoted as saying by Amnesty International in a
statement.
'They released the older women, mothers and most of the children after four days but are still keeping the younger women.'
The
news comes after aerial shots emerged yesterday of the towns taken a
day before the attack and a day after, showing the massive scale of
destruction after the massacre.
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Before: Infra-red images show the densely populated village of Doron Baga on January 2 - before the attack
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After: This image taken on January 7, following Boko Haram's assault, shows the village transformed by death and destruction
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The president addressed the crowd and
told them that all areas of Nigeria under the control of Boko Haram
would be recaptured soon
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Around 5,000 people are currently living in a camp after their towns were completely destroyed in the deadly attack
Today,
there was no independent confirmation of the exact figure or indication
of how many were still being held, but another survivor who escaped
also said hundreds of women and girls were held.
Civilian
vigilante Yanaye Grema, who escaped after hiding for three days in the
town, said he met four women, including one with a baby on her back, as
he fled through the bush following the attack last week.
'They told me they were among hundreds of women that were abducted by Boko Haram and detained,' he told news agency AFP.
Meanwhile,
Nigeria's president has made a surprise visit to the heartland of the
Boko Haram movement to meet survivors of the massacre which saw an
estimated 2,500 people slaughtered by Islamist militants.
Goodluck
Jonathan spent three hours in Maidugri, capital of Borno State, and
addressed 5,000 people who have been sheltering in a camp since the
attack by the terror group earlier this month.
The
president's visit comes just a day after new images obtained by Amnesty
International show the devastation of the assault - with more than
3,700 structures including houses and schools completely destroyed in
the towns of Baga and Doron Baga.
One
witness of the attack described how the ruthless terror group were
shooting indiscriminately, killing even small children and a woman who
was in labour.
During
his visit to the camp, Mr Jonathan promised that all areas of Nigeria
under the control of Boko Haram would be recaptured soon.
He told the crowd of displaced people: 'I want to assure you that you will soon go back to your houses.'
The
president's visit to Maiduguri - his first since March 2013 - was
shrouded in secrecy and came after a previous trip to the region in May
last year was cancelled at the last minute.
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