Amnesty says one grisly clip shows government soldiers slitting the throats of five Boko Haram fighters.


Graphic new video footage from northeastern Nigeria shows the country's military carrying out abuses against civilians as part of their fight against the armed group Boko Haram, human rights group Amnesty International has said.

One video, obtained by Amnesty and released on Tuesday, shows what appear to be military personnel and civilian vigilantes calling five detainees out from a row of 16 young men and boys, then slitting their throats one by one before dumping their bodies into an open grave.

The violence against civilians constitutes "war crimes," Amnesty alleged.

Amnesty said it obtained the footage from "numerous sources" in Borno state, Boko Haram's birthplace and stronghold.

The rights group said it independently confirmed from several military sources that the armed captors in the footage "were indeed military personnel."

Amnesty also accused the military of killing prisoners.

Some of the footage was apparently taken on March 14, the same day that Boko Haram broke into a military detention centre in Giwa barracks, freeing hundreds of prisoners. Amnesty says the military recaptured more than 600 of these prisoners and killed them.

The Nigerian military is studying the video footage "with a view to identifying those behind such acts," Defence Headquarters spokesman, Chris Olukolade, said in an email.

He added there will be "legal action against any personnel or anyone found culpable."

Nigerian authorities have rejected past accusations, insisting the military follows international best practice in its fight against the group.

More than 4,000 people - mostly civilians - have been killed this year alone "by all sides" of the conflict, said Amnesty.

Source: http://m.aljazeera.com/story/20148514327619293

when u are fighting a guerilla war of Dis nature abuse becomes inevitable. like what games is doing to Ghazans boko boys use civilians for cover....... Besides amnesty international una smoke weed abi? doz it mean DAT anybody on uniform is a Nigerian army? becoz differciatig imposters from our genuine military is as difficult as separating # Nigerian FAKE PASTORS from d genuine ones.

You cannot blame the Nigerian Army cos the rate at which insurgents are killing them is baffling,they are so mixed with the civilan population that their commit havoc with impunity.To me I will suggest the NA kill them right away then keeping them in cells and being rescured later by their sub group.

This looks like a hoax orchestrated by boko haram! Within the Security palace here in Nigeria, it is quite evident that this same Amnesty International masquerading as "Human Rights Body" is an hostile organisation sympathetic to boko haram terrorists and their numerous attrocities!

This video would be investigated for sure but I strongly doubt if our troops are truly culpable!