Boko Haram's 'deadliest massacre' reportedly kills 2,000 in Nigeria

Hundreds of bodies still litter the bushes of Baga, Nigeria -- mostly women, children and elderly victims too slow to outrun Boko Haram fighters who stormed the town with explosives and assault rifles in recent weeks, in the Islamic extremists’ bloodiest massacre yet. 

Amnesty International called Boko Haram’s recent attacks in Baga possibly “the “deadliest massacre” in the history of the violent group. An Amnesty report suggests the town was razed and as many as 2,000 people have been killed.     

Insurgents seized a key military base on Jan. 3 and attacked again last week, Nigerian government spokesman Mike Omeri said Friday.

"Security forces have responded rapidly, and have deployed significant military assets and conducted airstrikes against militant targets," Omeri said in a statement.

Violence continued over the weekend as Boko Haram fighters are suspected of commissioning a female suicide bomber -- reported to be just 10 years old – to strike at market in the main city of northeast Nigeria, Maiduguri, killing at least 10 people and injuring others Saturday. The bomb exploded after explosives were found under the girl's clothing during a search, according to witness accounts

Two more female suicide attackers killed four and injured more than 40 people in the town of Potiskum Sunday.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made it clear Monday that the U.S. is concerned about the situation, but expects the Nigerian government to protect its people.

“We are going to continue to work with the Nigerian government on our counterterrorism efforts. At the same time, we are also going to continue to urge the Nigerian government to live up to some basic human rights and some principles of basic human rights that sometimes get overlooked out of an effort to try to fight this terrible terrorist scourge that they are dealing with in their country right now,” Earnest told reporters.

It was almost impossible to get an accurate death toll as authorities continued to find more bodies and tend to the injured.

Nigeria's home-grown Boko Haram group drew international condemnation when its fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in northeast Chibok town last year. Dozens escaped but 219 remain missing.

The 5-year insurgency killed more than 10,000 people last year alone, according to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations. More than a million people are displaced inside Nigeria and hundreds of thousands have fled across its borders into Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.

SOURCE: Fox News