Nigeria: Boko Haram have killed over 2,000 civilians so far this year
The terrorist group Boko Haram has killed at least 2,053 people in 2014, based on attacks reported in the media.
There have been at least 95 incidents of violence this year in Nigeria attributed to Boko Haram, and over 70 towns and villages were targeted.
Human Rights Watch reported an increase in bombings by the terrorist group, including the use of suicide bombers. There were 14 explosions this year that killed 432 people.
The majority of Boko Haram attacks are in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria. Over 70 percent of Boko Haram-inflicted deaths occurred in this region. 151 civilians were killed in Adamawa State, and 143 persons in Yobe State.
Human Rights Watch West Africa Director Corrine Dufka condemned the killings.
"Boko Haram is effectively waging war on the people of northeastern Nigeria at a staggering human cost," she stated.
"Atrocities committed as part of a widespread attack on civilians are crimes against humanity, for which those responsible need to be held to account."
Boko Haram was founded in 2002, but has become increasingly violent since Abubakar Shekau assumed leadership in 2009.
In 2013, the Nigerian government declared a state of emergency in Adawama, Borno, and Yobe States, triggering an increase in Boko Haram terrorist activity.
91 women and children were kidnapped from Kummabza last month, and Boko Haram is also under suspicion for the bombing of the School of Hygiene in Kano on June 23. In that attack, a suicide car bomb was used. At least eight people were killed, and a dozen more injured.
In February, a secondary school dormitory at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi in Damaturu, Yobe State was locked from the outside by members of the terror group, and set on fire. 59 people were killed.
Boko Haram became internationally known after kidnapping over 270 children from an all-girls school in Chibok, Nigeria on April 14. A second mass kidnapping occurred on May 4 in Warabe.