The United Nations (UN) yesterday said over 1,200 people have been killed as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast of Nigeria since a state of emergency was declared in the region in May.
According to the World body in a statement, the figure is related to killings of civilians and the military by Boko Haram in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
It also includes insurgents killed by security forces repelling attacks.
This is the first time independent casualty figures have been issued since emergency rule was declared.
Thousands of people have been killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its campaign to install strict Islamic law in the north
The figures do not include those killed during military operations, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) told French News Agency the (AFP)
“The humanitarian situation in north-east Nigeria has been increasingly worrisome over the course of 2013,” the UN said.
There have been 48 separate “Boko Haram-related” attacks in the region since emergency rule was declared, the statement added.
“Information on the situation is scarce,” with figures of those displaced by the conflict and those who have fled to neighbouring states “hard to gauge”, Ocha said.
Since the declaration of state of emergency in Borno state, of which Maiduguri is the capital, and Adamawa and Yobe, there has been a massive military deployment in the worst-affected areas.
Attacks by Boko Haram are continuing despite the big military offensive.
The military initially switched off the mobile network across the region, apparently to block Islamists from co-ordinating attacks but that has since been relaxed.
