A deadly attack by extremist organization Boko Haram has left 86 civilians dead in the northeast region of Nigeria. On Saturday night, the group waged their assault in the town of Dalori and two refugee camps near where suicide bombers ignited huts and burned children to death.
Survivors who witnessed the four-hour attack detailed the assault and the sounds of the screaming children as their village went up in flames. One of the locals told CNN, “We had just finished evening prayers when the gunmen came to our village and indiscriminately opened fire and setting fire to homes. They detonated two bombs, which added to our fright and confusion. Everybody fled into the bush from where we saw our homes burning.”
The civilians fear another attack and don’t feel secure because the military help that was supposed to arrive from Maiduguri took too long.
There is a regional coalition of forces in place to combat Boko Haram between Cameroon, Niger, Benin, and Chad, but the six years of terror that the militants have caused the area has done more damage than ISIS, which it is said to have pledged allegiance to last year, so it may not be enough. The UN continues to address the human rights concerns in Nigeria with the two Regional Refugee Response Plans detailed here.