Nigeria appeals for support after Boko Haram massacre

Nigeria’s military has called for support in tackling Boko Haram after a major attack on a key northeast town that is feared could be the worst in the bloody six-year insurgency.

There are still no independently corroborated figures for the huge numbers said to have been killed in Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad in the far north of Borno State. But defence spokesman Chris Olukol-ade said in a statement issued late Saturday that the description of the assault as “the deadliest” in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2009 was “quite valid”.

“The attack on the town by the bloodhounds and their activities since January 3rd, 2015, should convince well-meaning people all over the world that Boko Haram is the evil all must collaborate to end, rather than vilifying those working to check them,” he said. Nigeria’s military — west Africa’s largest — has faced repeated criticism for failing to end the six-year Islamist insurgency, as well as allegations of human rights abuses.

Soldiers have complained of a lack of adequate weapons and even refused to deploy to take on the better-armed rebels, who want to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. With elections set for next month, Nigeria’s government has also been accused of playing politics with the insurgency, as most of the areas worst affected by the violence are main Opposition strongholds.

Meanwhile, two explosions ripped through a crowded mobile phone market in the northeast Nigerian city of Potiskum on Sunday, residents said, a day after a car exploded outside a police station, killing at least two.

The blasts rocked the Kasuwar Jagwal market within seconds of each other at about 3:10 pm (1410 GMT) when business was at its peak but there were no immediate indications of the number of casualties.