An international rights crusader, Human Rights Watch, on Wednesday described as
hogwash, military's claim that the fires that razed thousands of buildings in Baga, Borno State were caused by rocket- propelled grenades fired by members of
the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram. HRW, in a statement on its website, said satellite images showed that soldiers may have set the fires that razed down"2,275 buildings and left 125 others" in the town severely damaged.

Calling on the Federal Government to impartially probe the incident, it said that the military was covering up something going by the fact that it had vehemently
refused to allow journalists access into the troubled community.

There had been reports that 187 persons were killed and about 2,000 houses torched during the April 16, 2013 clash.
President Goodluck Jonathan had last week directed the Defence Headquarters and the National Emergency Management Agency to investigate the incident. Both
organisations submitted their preliminary reports to the President on Monday.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Dr. Reuben Abati, DHQ's findings showed that 30 terrorists were killed during the crisis.It also said that six
bodies were recovered in Lake Chad about three kilometres from the action spot.

In its report, NEMA stated that a number of buildings and business premises were destroyed in Baga. It claimed that the total number of houses in the community was
far less than 1,000. But the HRW, in the statement by its Africa
Director, Daniel Bekele, said that the area damaged by fires measured about 80,000 sq2.
Stating that the fires were detected by the MODIS sensor aboard NASA satellites Aqua
and Terra, the rights organisation said its findings corroborated claims by the residents that 2,000 houses and 183 bodies were burnt during the mayhem.
The group said, "Because of the number of buildings destroyed as well as their distribution across large sections of the town, we believe that such fires were
intentionally set and not inadvertently sparked by the detonation of rocket- propelled grenades or improvised explosive devices. "Such weapons could not ignite fires on such a wide scale, nor could they set fires to non-attached structures. Small arms and light weapons do not contain the amount of explosive or incendiary material to produce such a scale of damage." "Baga residents told HRW that soldiers
ransacked their town after the Boko Haram militant Islamist group attacked a military patrol, killing a soldier. Community
leaders said that immediately after the attack they counted 2,000 burned homes
and 183 bodies. Satellite images of the town analysed by HRW corroborate these accounts and identify 2,275 destroyed buildings, the vast majority likely
residences, with another 125 severely damaged."


The group stated that the damage was widely distributed across the southern half of Baga, with multiple clusters of near total
building destruction measuring
approximately eight hectares in total area. It said, "Virtually all identified buildings damaged exhibit signatures fully consistent with fire, including the presence
of burn scars, destroyed trees as well as intact load-bearing walls without a roof. Further, damage matches the spatial extent
of satellite-detected active fire zones recorded on the night of April 16 and the
afternoon of April 17, 2013 strongly
suggesting identified buildings damage occurred during this period.
"It is likely that a small percentage of destroyed or severely damaged buildings have not been identified because of tree cover;Total buildings damaged are therefore likely to be higher."
The HRW said that the discrepancies between the facts on the ground and statements by the military raised concerns of cover-up of abuses by troops.
The group added, "Since the attack, the military has restricted journalists' access to Baga, a remote fishing community on the shores of Lake Chad, 200 kilometres northeast of the city of Maiduguri.
"Boko Haram has destroyed mobile telephone towers in the area, claiming that security services used mobile phones to track down its member , making communication particularly difficult for survivors of the attack.
"The Nigerian military has a duty to protect itself and the population from Boko Haram attacks, but the evidence indicates that it engaged more in destruction than in protection." When contacted, the Director of Defence

mobile.punchng.com/output.php?link=http://www.punchng.com/news/satellite-images-show-2275-burnt-houses-in-baga-hrw/