Satellite images combined with graphic testimonies

A photograph from the sky depicts a typical African town: tin roofs, lush trees and dusty roads. In the next satellite image, taken a few days later, the same town is just a gray blur, the ash and ruins left by the militant group Boko Haram, which rampaged through the far northeast of Nigeria this month.

That something terrible had happened in the town of Baga and the surrounding area had been known shortly after the attacks began Jan. 3. But Nigerian authorities threw the seriousness of the devastation into doubt this week, insisting that 150 people died, including many of the assailants, in contrast with unconfirmed reports that as many as 2,000 people had been killed.

The chilling satellite images, released by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, brought rare clarity to a conflict that is often murky and difficult to assess. 

In Nigeria,satellite images shed light on Boko Haram's rampage