Before-and-after photographs show more than 3,100 structures destroyed by fire in villages where hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed

New satellite photographs have laid bare the catastrophic scale of the latest Boko Haram atrocities, which are thought to have left hundreds of people dead and thousands of houses burnt or razed in two Nigerian towns.

The militant group attacked the neighbouring towns of Baga and Doron Baga on 3 January, murdering scores of people and laying waste to their homes. Although initial local estimates put the death toll at 2,000, the Nigerian military has since dismissed the figure.

The satellite images, released by Amnesty International, show the aftermath of the attacks, contrasting pictures taken on 2 January with others taken on 7 January.

The before-and-after photographs of Doron Baga, which lies 1.5 miles from Baga, reveal the ferocity of the onslaught, with more than 3,100 structures damaged or destroyed by fire. Many of the wooden fishing boats that dotted the shoreline on 2 January are no longer visible five days later, when people had fled by boat in panic across Lake Chad.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Satellite image of the village of Doro Baga (AKA Doro Gowon) in north-eastern Nigeria taken on 2 January above an image of the same area taken on 7 January. Photograph: Micah Farfour/DigitalGlobe

In Baga, a densely populated town less than 2 sq km in size, about 620 structures were either damaged or completely destroyed by fire.

Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International, described the Boko Haram assault as “the largest and most destructive” the organisation had analysed.

“It represents a deliberate attack on civilians whose homes, clinics and schools are now burnt-out ruins,” he said.

“Up until now, the isolation of the Baga combined with the fact that Boko Haram remains in control of the area has meant that it has been very difficult to verify what happened there.”

While residents had not yet been able to count or bury their dead, said Eyre, the satellite images had served to chronicle the effects of what was probably “Boko Haram’s deadliest attack ever”.

He added: “This week, Nigeria’s director of defence information stated that the number of people killed in Baga including Boko Haram fighters ‘has so far not exceeded about 150’. These images, together with the stories of those who survived the attack, suggest that the final death toll could be much higher than this figure.”

The Nigerian military, which has described Amnesty’s characterisation of the attack as “quite valid”, said events in Baga clearly demonstrated what Boko Haram is capable of.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nigerians cram into a bus fleeing the town of Mubi after the attacks. Photograph: EPA

“The attack on the town by the blood hounds and their activities since 3 January 2015 should convince well-meaning people all over the world that Boko Haram is the evil all must collaborate to end rather than vilifying those working to check them,” it said in a statement.

Traumatised victims fleeing the fog of war gave accounts of what they saw.

For Yusuf Sarkin, the gunfire and the screaming and the frenzy of bodies trying to outrun bullets flying through the sandy streets of Baga blended into one long awful blur. But another loop of horror keeps playing in his mind: that he let go of his terrified 10-year-old son’s hand.

Sarkin, 51, and his wife grabbed their four children and joined others fleeing Boko Haram’s murderous descent on 3 January. His only thought was to reach the shores of Lake Chad, around which the fishing settlement is built.

Sarkin was clutching Adamu’s hand and his family started running. But when he reached the water, where panicked residents were piling into canoes, he looked down to see his son had disappeared. “Can you imagine the fear that makes you let go of your child’s hand?” he asked, his voice hoarse as he relived the memory. “What happened that day, the things I saw, are so terrible.”

Yusuf Ahmed, a vegetable trader who had driven from Maiduguri a day earlier, had a lucky escape.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People take refuge in Teachers Village in Maiduguri province. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

After finishing prayers at around 5am, he noticed several camouflage trucks filled with men driving into the town. The occupants wore military fatigues, so when the gunshots began an hour later, Ahmed was not immediately frightened. “Being a Maiduguri man who is used to soldiers all over the place, I actually walked towards the direction which people said they were coming from,” he said.



Nearby, another group of men started erecting roadside barriers. Among them was 37-year-old Yusuf Idris, who bought a $40 (£26) home-made musket and joined his friends in a civilian vigilante effort after a savage assault in 2013 turned Baga into Nigeria’s new ground zero against Boko Haram. When they noticed a flurry of military activity, Idris and his men wanted to help. Nobody expected the coming carnage.

By the time Ahmed came upon the group of “soldiers”, he knew something was wrong. “I knew they weren’t soldiers because they wore military uniforms but no boots and berets,” he said. Some took off towards the market, throwing money, cattle and food into their trucks. “They were laughing and saying why should they pay for what is theirs by right. They were looting everything,” Ahmed said.

Another group homed in on the army base. With cries of “Allahu Akbar”, the militants began shooting in earnest. At the roadblock, Idris hoisted his crude rifle and prepared to fight against insurgents armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. “All of a sudden another group who had overrun the [army] base came towards us, mounted on armoured tanks, and that was too much for us,” he said. Two of the vigilantes were shot dead. The others fled.

Soldiers battled back for almost nine hours before throwing away their weapons and running into the bush, witnesses and a local official told the Guardian.

Idris ran into a house whose corrugated iron roof had caved in under an onslaught of bullets. He and a shellshocked woman called Hadiza sheltered there for three days while the marauding militants looted and burnt houses. At night the two curled up beside the bullet-pocked wall and fell into an exhausted sleep to the sound of celebratory gunshots. One morning Hadiza crept out to find water and never returned. By nightfall, Idris decided to run.

“When I reached the bush, I was relieved at first but then I saw bodies everywhere. I walked through five villages and each one I passed was empty except for dead bodies.”