Rights groups are sounding the alarm over “a shocking and despicable” video purportedly showing soldiers from Cameroon – a close US ally in Africa – shooting and killing women and children, suspected of Islamist links.

A harrowing report by the Intercept, which went public on Thursday, alleged that Cameroonian troops carried out arbitrary executions of people thought to be Boko Haram followers. The news outlet has uploaded an extremely disturbing video that showed men in military fatigues escorting two women, one of them clutching the hand of a young girl, likely her daughter, and the second carries a child on her back.

“You are going to die,” says a soldier, who refers to one of the women as ‘BH,’ an apparent reference to Boko Haram. “This hurts us but your parents have put us in a…,” he is heard saying on the video before being interrupted by a series of gunshots.

WARNING! The video contains scenes that you may find extremely disturbing.

The video started circulating on the web earlier this month, prompting Issa Tchiroma Bakary, spokesman for the Cameroonian government, to label it as “fake news” and “an unfortunate attempt to distort actual facts and intoxicate the public.” Excerpts from the video have been shared by a range of news outlets, but none, aside from the Intercept, have shown the executions themselves.

Meanwhile, rights groups pointed out the government’s claim that this shocking video is fake simply did not stand up to a fact-check. “We can provide credible evidence to the contrary,”said Samira Daoud, deputy director of Amnesty International’s West Africa office.

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“Given the gravity of these horrific acts – the cold-blooded and calculated slaughter of women and young children – these hasty and dismissive denials cast serious doubt over whether any investigation will be genuine,” Daoud said.

“It is indeed the most shocking and despicable video that I ever watched in my entire career,” Illaria Allegrozzi, Lake Chad researcher with Amnesty International, told RT. “Amnesty has recorded systematic torture and extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, cases of enforced disappearance, and all these cases have never been dealt with.” She earlier told the Intercept that the horrifying footage “haunted me for days afterward.”

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN human rights chief, said she was “utterly appalled” by the video. “I am deeply worried that these killings captured on camera may not be isolated cases,” he said in his statement, as cited by AP.

As the story unfolded, RT reached out to the Cameroonian prime minister’s office to verify the video and confirm the government’s intention to follow through on the promise of an investigation. So far there has been no response.

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