A total of 3, 335 dead bodies were deposited by the military in only one hospital in Borno State in the first six months of this year, Associated Press news agency has said in a report. AP said in the report that the figure was contained in a hospital list seen by it.

The report was coming just few days after Amnesty International released a report, saying over 950 detainees have died in military detention within six months early this year.

Sunday Trust could not reach the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier Chris Olukolade, yesterday for his reaction.

In its report, AP said mortuary records from a single Nigerian hospital show the number of detainees who died in military custody more than tripled in June, the first month of a state of emergency in the troubled northeast region, shedding stark light on Nigeria’s escalating war with militants,.

Overall, the records obtained by The Associated Press for the nine months from October 5 to July 5 indicate that the military is killing thousands in its crackdown on the uprising in northeast Nigeria.

The records cover just one hospital, Sani Abacha Specialist Teaching Hospital in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, the movement fighting to uproot Western cultural influences from a country shared almost equally by Muslims and Christians.

In the 30 days before the state of emergency was declared on May 14, 380 bodies were delivered to the hospital by the military. In the 30 days after, the number was 1,321.

For the whole of June, the number was 1,795, making it the worst month in the records seen by the AP, which has also witnessed many of the bodies being delivered to the hospital in military ambulances, escorted by armored cars.

The figure is much larger than the estimated number of Boko Haram fighters.

Nigerian government and military officials have refused to comment, and it’s impossible to know how many of the dead had Boko Haram connections. But Nigerian law stipulates that even under a state of emergency, detainees are supposed to be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours and to have access to lawyers and family members.

A pastor said he was held at Maiduguri’s Giwa Military Barracks after he and four other people were arrested because weapons were found hidden in the shoe factory where he works.

He described hundreds of naked people crammed into a cell meant for a couple of dozen. Once a day, he said, a soldier would throw a loaf of moistened bread into the cell to be brawled over. Some died of torture, he said.

He told the AP he was freed with the intervention of a Christian group, and his jailers’ recognizing his prayers for salvation as Christian. He requested anonymity fearing military retaliation. Amnesty International reported this week that hundreds are dying in detention: some taken from the cells and shot, some dying of suffocation or starvation.

The London-based human rights group said “credible information” from a senior Nigerian army officer indicated more than 950 people have been killed in the first six months of this year. The mortuary records seen by the AP list 3,335 bodies in that period, in just one hospital.

That figure alone is about nine times greater than the 400 civilians killed in Boko Haram attacks in the same period, according to an AP count of reported incidents.

However, Boko Haram has also done much to alienate public opinion. Fighters suspected of belonging to it have gunned down dozens of schoolchildren, some as they sat at their desks writing exams, and burned alive boarding school students locked into dormitories that were set ablaze.

The name Boko Haram roughly means “Western education is forbidden.”

The group has also killed many more Muslims than Christians. In August, it gunned down 47 worshippers in a mosque. Last month it captured a muezzin, made him issue the pre-dawn summons to prayer and then killed at least seven elderly men who answered the call.

Local and international human rights groups say the troops deployed to combat Boko Haram are notorious for their excesses and have draconian powers to raid homes and detain people. They see a danger of a backlash from a poor population that feels marginalized and remote from the political center of Nigeria and its president, Goodluck Jonathan.

The religions co-exist peacefully in the rest of Nigeria although fundamentalism, fueled by poverty and marginalization, has been growing among Christians and Muslims in the north.

Just days after the emergency was declared, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry noted “deep concern over credible allegations of gross human rights violations by Nigerian security forces.” And in September, when he met Jonathan at the U.N., President Barack Obama “underscored the importance of countering terrorism via a comprehensive approach that creates economic opportunity and protects human rights,” according to a State Department official.

On Thursday Nigeria was elected to a two-year seat on the U.N. Security Council. According to presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, President Jonathan believes it is “a glowing expression of support and encouragement for Nigeria’s active participation in the promotion of peace, security and political stability in Africa and other parts of the world.”

Source: http://sundaytrust.com.ng/index.php/news/14757-state-of-emergency-jtf-dumped-3-335-corpses-in-borno-hospital-report

The Chief of Army Staff is busy shedding Muslim blood in tandem with GEJ thinking that will help them perpetuate themselves in power. They will fail.

Donmams: The Chief of Army Staff is busy shedding Muslim blood in tandem with GEJ thinking that will help them perpetuate themselves in power. They will fail.

Stop this your childish reasoning. Is it only muslims that are being killed? Christians didn't suffer the same fate? That statement u made was uncalled for.

Hmmm

to nt deceive our self...BH will continue to be except d whole of d North is detroyed....for ao long would JTF continue to kill bf BH is eradicated. To say d fact...if actualy thousannds of people killed by JTF re BH members...BH suppose to ve become sometin of d past... Nt Dat i hve pitty for BH bt for d many innocents who hv fallen victim of JTF activities in cmbating terroism... May God help us...

Enough cadavers for medical students..

Femolacaster:
Stop this your childish reasoning. Is it only muslims that are being killed? Christians didn't suffer the same fate? That statement u made was uncalled for.

How many christians are being killed by the military? Is it not the youths of Borno that are being massacred on a daily basis by the JTF? If any christian had been killed by the JTF i'm very sure CAN would have been ranting by now.

Donmams: The Chief of Army Staff is busy shedding Muslim blood in tandem with GEJ thinking that will help them perpetuate themselves in power. They will fail.

You just exhibited an attribute of a goat-like religious fanatic.

I couldn't think of a way to pick on you, than to upset you the more... Psychological slapping;
They are killing them and there's nothing you can do about it.
It will be awesome if you go drink highly concentrated boiling hydrochloric acid.

emmysenior:

You just exhibited an attribute of a goat-like religious fanatic.

I couldn't think of a way to pick on you, than to upset you the more... Psychological slapping;
They are killing them and there's nothing you can do about it.
It will be awesome if you go drink highly concentrated boiling hydrochloric acid.

I don't need to drink anything. All i know is God will destroy them for killing innocent people just because they belonged to a certain religion. Their end is coming

Donmams:
How many christians are being killed by the military? Is it not the youths of Borno that are being massacred on a daily basis by the JTF? If any christian had been killed by the JTF i'm very sure CAN would have been ranting by now.

U are a one-sided religious fanatric, what of those bokoharamist dressed in army uniforms that have massacred a lot of souls (including christians and muslims), why bringing CAN to this? Was it not d persistent murdering of above 200 people in Bama and Baga that lead to the declaration of SOE? Why putting the blame on military and trying to sympathise with boko-haram? I am not a Gej fan but that trash u wrote was uncalled for.

Muslims don't like peace.

Actually, it's a state of emergency!

Donmams:
I don't need to drink anything. All i know is God will destroy them for killing innocent people just because they belonged to a certain religion. Their end is coming

Well, God is already doing that! Destroying them that were killing worshipers and burning churches while sparing mosques. God has already answered your prayers. You should be doing thanking giving now.

Donmams:
How many christians are being killed by the military? Is it not the youths of Borno that are being massacred on a daily basis by the JTF? If any christian had been killed by the JTF i'm very sure CAN would have been ranting by now.

Donmams: The Chief of Army Staff is busy shedding Muslim blood in tandem with GEJ thinking that will help them perpetuate themselves in power. They will fail.

I thought somebody was gonna talk sense into your head. Who started it in the first place...The Church bombing and the likes, now you are crying foul. Hope you are not one of their sympatisers, mind you christians still suffer it more.

Muslims don't tolerate and they hate peace.