Patrick Poole, writing in PJ Media, calls it "Nigeria's 9/11."  Given what we know, it's hard to argue with him.

The terrorist group Boko Haram has massacred at least 2,000 people in the Nigerian state of Borno, according to a Nigerian government official.  The town of Baga was destroyed, and 16 other villages and towns were also razed to the ground in two days of horrific violence.

This latest outrage began when Boko Haram captured a military installation used by the coalition to combat them.  From there, the slaughter began.

New York Daily News:

The Nigerian terror group Boko Haram may have killed 2,000 people in one horrific attack this week, a government official told the BBC.

The terror thugs, who control much of northeastern Nigeria, attacked the town of Baga on Tuesday night and Wednesday, according to reports. While many officials say the casualties were in the hundreds, senior government official Musa Alhaji Bukar told the BBC that he believed 2,000 died in the attack. Reuters reported that dozens of people were killed in the attack.

"I escaped with my family in the car after seeing how Boko Haram was killing people ... I saw bodies in the street," survivor Mohamed Bukar told Reuters after fleeing to the state capital Maiduguri. "Children and women, some were crying for help."

“The indiscriminate killing went on and on and on,” local state senator Maina Maaji Lawan told the BBC.

Witnesses to the attack say local soldiers were overmatched and some even fled.

"They came through the north, the west and from the southern part of the town because the eastern part is only water," a witness told the BBC. "So, when we [went] towards the western part, we saw heavily armed Boko Haram men coming towards us.

"The soldiers were trying to repel the attack but that wasn't going to happen because a lot of the soldiers were without their guns and some were running into the town," the witness continued. "When you see soldiers running away into the town — what are you to do, other than to just run away as well?"

The government of Nigeria is trying to downplay the massacre.  President Goodluck Jonathan is in the midst of a presidential election, scheduled for February 14, and this kind of body count does his political fortunes no good.

The terrorists now control about 70% of Borno, where they have carved out their own caliphate.  The Nigerian government seems powerless to stop them, and unless Nigeria's neighbors increase their military presence in the country, the terrorists will continue their bloody conquests.