{"id":6016,"date":"2013-07-05T11:25:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T11:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/baga-killings-police-deny-indicting-nigerian-military\/"},"modified":"2013-07-05T11:25:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T11:25:15","slug":"baga-killings-police-deny-indicting-nigerian-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/baga-killings-police-deny-indicting-nigerian-military\/","title":{"rendered":"Baga Killings: Police deny indicting Nigerian military"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nigeria’s police authorities have denied a report claiming Nigerian soldiers fired indiscriminately at civilians in the April killings in Baga, Borno state.<\/p>\n

The report said to have been compiled by the Nigerian Human Rights Commission was widely circulated five days ago. News reports said the human rights commission in turn cited a police report that said soldiers fired wildly “at anybody in sight” on the day of the Baga massacre after a soldier was killed by an alleged Boko Haram member on 16 April.<\/p>\n

Troops completely “razed” five wards of the town of Baga during the rampage, according to police findings quoted in the rights commission’s new report. The Red Cross had said that 187 people were killed during the incident, while a local senator put the death toll at 228.<\/p>\n

But in a twist, the Nigerian police issued a statement today debunking the report.<\/p>\n

“The Force wishes to rebut references to it by recent media reports credited to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which created the impression that a report issued by the Force indicted the JTF on the Baga incident. This is not true and cannot be true!”, said the statement signed by Frank Mba, the police spokesman.<\/p>\n

“It is important to note that the Nigeria Police Force is a component of the JTF operating in Borno State and other parts of the country and cannot set out to discredit an outfit which it is part of. The said report therefore did not emanate from the Nigeria Police Authority”, the statement added.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s military has denied accusations of abuses, insisting 37 people were killed, 30 of whom were militants, six civilians and one a soldier.<\/p>\n

Military officials further denied fires were lit during the violence, saying they were caused by Islamist insurgents terrorising the region.<\/p>\n

The commission report, a copy of which was provided to AFP, says police provided the same death toll as the military, though it does not say if the victims were civilians.<\/p>\n

Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, a defence spokesman, told AFP the military stood by its previous account.<\/p>\n

The police report cited differed from what had been previously discussed between the police and military, he conceded, but declined to provide further details.<\/p>\n

The commission’s report on the Baga incident and insecurity in general in the northeast does not assign blame, as it was unable to visit the area because of safety concerns.<\/p>\n

Soldiers involved in the Baga incident were part of a multi-national task force that includes personnel from Nigeria, Niger and Chad, the report said. The borders of the three countries converge in Nigeria’s northeast corner.<\/p>\n

But under the rules of the force, only Nigerian soldiers would have been operating on Nigerian territory, rights commission head Chidi Odinkalu told AFP.<\/p>\n

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