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Amnesty International has said Boko Haram has killed thousands of people, abducted thousands and forced more than two million others to flee their homes in North-East Nigeria since 2009.
The human rights organisation also said the insurgent group had abducted hundreds of girls and turned them into sex slaves, while subjecting communities to years of killings, bombings, looting and destruction.
Amnesty International disclosed this in a post on its X handle on Monday while explaining the origins of Boko Haram and its devastating impact on civilians in the North-East.
The organisation said the group had “wreaked havoc and suffering on the lives of millions of people” through repeated attacks on towns and villages.
It said Boko Haram fighters had terrorised civilians and disrupted their livelihoods through “almost daily killings, bombings, abductions, looting and burning.”
According to Amnesty International, the insurgents had pillaged communities and destroyed schools, churches, mosques and other public buildings, crippling normal life in several parts of the region.
The organisation traced the establishment of Boko Haram to 2002 in North-East Nigeria, describing it as a religious movement committed to building a society based on its interpretation of Islam.
The group, whose full name is Jamā’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lādda’awatih wal-Jihad, meaning People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad, is commonly referred to as Boko Haram, a phrase widely translated as “Western education is forbidden.”
Amnesty International said the group initially assembled villagers to preach its ideology, instructing them “not to be loyal to the government” but to follow its version of Islam.
It added that Boko Haram sometimes gave civilians the option of being killed or joining the group.
“More frequently, fighters simply shot civilians or cut their throats,” the organisation said.
The group’s sustained attacks have devastated communities across the North-East, forcing millions from their homes and leaving thousands dead or abducted.
