Nigeria's Military Accused Of War Crimes

A new video footage from northeastern part of Nigeria shows the country's military carrying out gruesome abuses against civilians as part of their fight against Boko Haram has surfaced.

The content of the graphic video which Amnesty International, an international human rights group, has condemned as a barbaric act has made the group to also accuse the military of killing more than 600 released prisoners. The footage, which was collated from various killing scenes in Borno state, involves military personnel and civilian vigilantes calling five detainees from a row of 16 young men and boys, then slitting their throats one by one before dumping the bodies into an open grave.

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The Amnesty organization claimed it confirmed that the military men that were shown in the footage are indeed military personnel, as against the previous claims of the Federal Government that these men were not real military men.

Also, accusing the military of killing prisoners, Amnesty revealed that 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.

However, the Defence Headquarters spokesman, Chris Olukolade, has said in a mail that the Nigerian Military are out with a view to identifying those behind such acts, adding that necessary legal actions against any personnel or anyone found culpable will be taken.

Source: Legit.ng