According to the New York Times reporting on 17 January 2017, a Nigerian air-force jet accidentally bombed a
refugee camp in Rann (Borno State) near the border with Cameroon. The mistake occurred as government forces endeavor to push Boko Haram forces out of northeastern Nigeria. According to BBC News reporting on 24 January 2017, the number
killed by this error had risen to 115 - made up of aid workers and those fleeing Boko Haram violence; many more were injured. According to the BBC News report, there were an estimated 20,000-40,000 people sheltering in Rann at the time of the airstrike.
The day before, on 16 January 2017, at least four people were killed and 15 wounded in an
attack on a mosque in Nigeria"s University of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria. Al-Jazeera reported the same day that the suicide bomber was believed to be a teenage girl trained by Boko Haram.
Yonas Dembele, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "The above incidents show that despite the progress the Nigerian army has made in dislodging Boko Haram from a large swath of territory it held, violence still continues. The incident at the Rann refugee camp shows how innocent civilians - among them many Christians - are affected by the confusion caused by the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency. The suicide attack in Maiduguri also shows that Boko Haram remains a serious threat to the civilian population in northeastern Nigeria. Under such conditions, Christians in the region will continue to feel unsafe and at risk."
