We really need to talk about Boko Haram...
They haven’t been covered much in the mainstream media but Boko Haram have been terrorising Africans with devastating, widespread and long-lasting consequences.
Responsible for more deaths than ISIS
According to the Global Terrorism Report, they have overtaken ISIS as the world’s deadliest terrorist group. It should be noted that in March this year, they pledged allegiance to ISIS. The two groups are responsible for more than half of all terrorist attacks in the world.
Who are they?
Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it “haram”, or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society.
This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education.
Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers, even when the country had a Muslim president - and it has extended its military campaign by targeting neighbouring states.
800,000 people have fled their homes since June
Since the beginning of Boko Haram’s attacks in 2009, 2.1 million people have been forced to leave their homes with a staggering 800,000 having fled between June - September 2015.
An estimated 1,100 schools have been destroyed this year alone
The UN have stated that over a thousand schools have been destroyed in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria in 2015 so far.
This is a list of their major attacks so far in 2015:
Although the figures of deaths are numerical, please remember that these are people who had jobs, lives, families, dreams, hobbies, just like you. They are more than numbers on a screen.
January 3 - 7th: The town of Baga in the north-eastern state of Borno is attacked. Bodies lay strewn on Baga’s streets with as many as 2,000 people having been killed.
January 9th: Following the Boko Haram massacre, 7,300 flee to neighbouring Chad while over 1,000 are trapped on the island of Kangala in Lake Chad.
January 18th: Boko Haram militants kidnap 80 people and kill three others from villages in north Cameroon.
January 28th: Boko Haram fighters killed 40 people while on a rampage in Adamawa State.
February 15th: A suicide bomber kills 16 and wounds 30 in the Nigerian city of Damaturu.
February 20th: Boko Haram militants kill 34 people in attacks across Borno State and 21 from the town of Chibok.
February 24th: Two suicide bombers kill at least 27 people at bus stations in Potiskum and Kano.
March 7th: Five suicide bomb blasts leave 54 dead and 143 wounded in Maiduguri.
March 18th: A mass grave of 90 people is discovered in the city of Damasak .
March 29th: Voting in the Nigerian general election is delayed for a second day. 25 people have died in Boko Haram attacks.
June 12th: Several days of nighttime raids on six remote villages that left at least 37 people dead in Northeastern Nigeria
June 16th: Twin Suicide Bomb attacks in Chad capital killed 24 people and wounded more than 100.
June 17th: Bombs found at Boko Haram camp kills 63 people in Nigeria
June 23rd: Twin female suicide bomb attacks at busy fish market in Maiduguri kill 30 people.
June 28th: Five dead in suicide blast at Nigeria hospital
June 30th: Militants attacked Muslim residents after they had finished prayers, leaving 48 men dead.
July 1st: Attacks on Muslims praying in Mosques before breaking their Ramadan fast kills 97 people in Kukawa.
July 2nd: Two female suicide bombers attack a village in Borno state killing at least 10 people
July 3rd: Militants slit the throats of 11 people
July 3rd: Several suicide bombers killed dozens of people in Zabarmari village.
July 7th: Bomb attack kills at least 25 people and wounded 32 others in northern Nigeria’s Zaria city
July 11th: At least 14 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a crowded market in Chad’s capital
July 17th: Suicide bombs have killed more than 60 people in multiple blasts in the north-eastern towns of Gombe and Damaturu.
July 22nd: A double suicide attack killed at least 11 people in the far north of Cameroon
July 25th: A child and a middle-aged woman detonated suicide vests in two separate attacks, killing 34 and wounding over 100 people
Aug 2nd: 13 people killed and 27 injured in an attack on Malari village in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state
Aug 3rd: Eight people were killed and about 100 others were kidnapped in an overnight raid on a village near Cameroon’s northern border
Aug 5th: Militants behead a policeman in Nigeria
Aug 7th: Boko Haram attacks on two villages in Yobe kill nine people
Aug 11th: A bomb attack on a packed market in north-eastern Nigeria killed about 50 people.
Aug 17th: Insurgents raided a village in Borno state, Nigeria, near the border with Niger, killing 7 people
Aug 18th: Up to 150 people drowned in a river or were shot dead fleeing Boko Haram gunmen who raided a remote village in Nigeria’s north-eastern Yobe state
Aug 23rd: Army Chief’s convoy attacked, 11 people killed, 5 injured
Aug 25th: Extremists killed 28 people during attacks on remote farming and fishing villages in northeast Nigeria.
Aug 30th: 56 villagers are killed in in Baanu village of Nganzai
Sept 1st: Gunmen on horseback kill 79 in trio of attacks
Sept 3rd: Militants killed about 30 people and wounded 145 others in attacks on a market and infirmary in northern Cameroon
Sept 20th: More than 100 people were killed in northern Nigeria in a quick succession carefully coordinated bombings
Sept 24th: 15 people killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants on a border village in south-eastern Niger
Sept 27th: 9 people killed in attacks on Mailari Village
Sept 27th: Militants attacked the town N’gourtoi, a Nigerien village, killing the village head and 14 other civilians.
Oct 1st: An attack on a village in south-eastern Niger killed two soldiers
Oct 3rd: 15 killed in bombings in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja
Oct 4th: Militants killed three civilians and a soldier in a double suicide attack in Niger
Oct 6th: 11 Chadian soldiers killed in a surprise attack near Lake Chad
Oct 10: Five suicide bombers targeted a market and a refugee camp in Chad killing 36 people and wounding 56 others.
Oct 6th: Suicide attacks in northern Nigeria kill at least 17 people, injuring 11
Oct 7th: At least 12 worshipers have been killed in set of twin suicide attacks on a mosque in Borno State
Oct 22nd: 20 people were shot dead outside the Jingalta village Borno state, Nigeria
Oct 23rd: 23 people were killed in a bombing in a mosque in Borno State
Oct 28th: Thirteen people were killed and three injured in an attack on village in south-east Niger
Oct 29th: Many killed and houses burnt to the ground in Bara town of Gulani
Nov 8th: A twin suicide bombing near Lake Chad on Sunday killed two people and wounded 14 others
Nov 11th: 25 dead in raid on a village in southern Niger
Nov 12th: The government of Chad has imposed a state of emergency on the northern region by Lake Chad
Nov 17th: At least 32 people have been killed and 80 injured in a night-time suicide bomb attack at a truck stop in Yola, Adamawa state, Nigeria
I’ll be updating this list as events progress. Please let me know if I have missed anything and I’ll add it in.