Nigeria army was warned prior to Baga attack: Amnesty

Amnesty International says the Nigerian military had been warned of a deadly attack by Boko Haram terrorists in early January but failed to take any action.

The UK-based rights group said on Wednesday that it obtained information from senior military officers and other sources indicating the country’s defense officials had prior knowledge of the January 3 attack that left as many as 2,000 people dead in the northeastern town of Baga, according to some reports.

"It is clear from this evidence that Nigeria's military leadership woefully and repeatedly failed in their duty to protect civilians of Baga and Monguno despite repeated warnings about an impending threat posed by Boko Haram," said Amnesty's Africa director Netsanet Belay.

In Baga, troops had reported a build-up of Takfiri militants, signifying an imminent attack in the area, according to the rights groups.

The terrorists had themselves warned the civilians of the impending onslaught, which forced hundreds to flee.

"The misleading conclusions by Amnesty International could have been avoided if they had made meaningful efforts to verify the inciting allegations," said Nigerian Defense Ministry spokesman Chris Olukolade in a statement issued in response to Amnesty’s claims.

The rights group is using Boko Haram’s measures as a pretext to conclude that the military's counter-terrorism operations are “inaccurate and unfair", he added.

Abuja puts the death toll from the brutal attack at 150.

Nigerians fleeing violence

Amnesty’s report, not the first of its kind, was released as thousands of Nigerians were fleeing the violence carried out by the militants.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report that some 14,000 have entered neighboring Chad since the beginning of 2015.

The OCHA put the number of daily arrivals in Chad at 774, saying it expects the number to reach 30,000 this year.

"The humanitarian community believes that an additional population influx is expected given the security context -- the increase in attacks by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria as well as possible tensions before elections," the report said.

Nigeria will hold a presidential election on February 14 with President Goodluck Jonathan mulling a second four-year term.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.

The terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of its operations in 2009, which have claimed lives of thousands of people.

According to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, the violence, which has forced 1.5 million people to flee their homes, killed over 10,000 people last year alone.

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