WITH satellite images showing massive destruction in the Nigerian town of Baga, Human Rights Watch says it fears the military is trying to cover up abuses that should be investigated.
Clashes between soldiers and Boko Haram Islamists have sparked massive fires leaving nearly half the town destroyed.
The Red Cross says 187 people were killed in the fighting, while an area senator puts the toll at 228.
The military has pushed back aggressively against these reports and fiercely denies claims soldiers fired on civilians or deliberately torched scores of homes.
After meeting with senior military officials tasked with probing the carnage, President Goodluck Jonathan said on Tuesday "there is a lot of misinformation being peddled about the situation".
He says the reported death tolls "cannot be substantiated" and it is impossible that more than 1000 homes were destroyed.
"Satellite images of the town analysed by Human Rights Watch ... identify 2275 destroyed buildings, the vast majority likely residences, with another 125 severely damaged," the rights group said in a statement on Wednesday.
On its website, it posted images depicting aerial shots of the town on April 6 against those of the same neighbourhoods on April 26, 10 days after the clashes.
The before-and-after images appear to show scores of newly burnt buildings.
"The glaring discrepancies between the facts on the ground and statements by senior military officials raise concerns that they tried to cover up military abuses," the group added.
Human Rights Watch further called on the International Criminal Court to probe the events in Baga as part of the preliminary investigation the court launched in 2010.
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