Boko Haram refugees

Kellou Abakar knew she was in trouble as the contractions started not long after an Islamic extremist group attacked her town in Nigeria. Her husband was nowhere to be found, and so she pulled her 4-year-old son onto her back and grabbed her two little girls by the hand.

The 30-year-old pregnant woman ran as fast as she could to escape the Jan. 3 attack on her hometown of Baga. It was one of the worst massacres ever carried out by Boko Haram during its five-year insurgency.

Nigerians who fled Boko Haram to Chad sit outside their tent at the Baga Sola refugee camp in Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2015 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. After the Baga massacre, another 15,000 came bringing the total now to about 18,000, Chadian authorities believe there are more than 2,000 others still trapped on islands, awaiting transport to the safety of a refugee camp though there are more arriving each day in one of the poorest countries on Earth. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

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The jihadist group seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate is believed to have killed hundreds that January day, and Abakar still doesn't know whether her husband is among the dead more than two months later. Three of her other children disappeared in the chaos that ensued as the militants opened fire indiscriminately and threw people into the burning homes that had been set ablaze.

The family made its way four hours on foot, and by the time she got to the shores of Lake Chad to board a boat to safety in neighboring Chad, she was too far along in her labor to get in. She gave birth in Nigeria. As soon as Aboubakar was born, she and the children got into a boat.

"If I had stayed there they would have killed me too," she said softly inside a tent at a refugee camp now home to more than 6,000 Nigerians who have fled Boko Haram's violence.

Abakar and her children arrived this week at the camp after taking refuge in several other villages. The camp on the edge of the Sahara Desert is jointly run by the UN and the Chadian government.

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Herdsmen and others cross a tributary of Lake Chad to the village of N'Gouboua, Chad, Thursday, March 5, 2015, using the same route the Nigerian refugees used to flee Boko Haram. Boko Haram militants arrived in N’gouboua before dawn on Feb. 13, marking the first attack of its kind on Chad. By the time the scorched-earth attack ended, they had burned scores of mud-brick houses by torching them with gasoline and had killed at least eight civilians and two security officers. Some 3,400 Nigerian refugees had been living in the village at the time of the attack, and all have since been relocated further inland. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

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As she sat breastfeeding Aboubakar, her older children played on the sandy floor, their cheerful voices drowned out by the wind rattling the tarp overhead. She hopes her husband will approve of the name she chose for him so he could get identity documents as a newborn refugee. There was no naming ceremony, no father was present to buy a sheep to slaughter in sacrifice. She named the child after his grandfather - for now.

Many here hope their loved ones are not dead, but rather among those still hiding on the dozens of islands that dot Lake Chad which borders Chad, Nigeria and parts of Cameroon and Niger. The Chadian military tries to protect those fleeing here but even so, several weeks ago, Boko Haram militants aboard motorized boats attacked the peninsula of N'gouboua inside Chad, killing at least eight civilians.

Since then, families have been brought from there to the camp where UNICEF offers health service and school and activities for the children. The families receive food from humanitarian agencies and are assigned tents erected in neat blocks. They seek shade from the desert sun under acacia trees. Refugees take water from a well. Men riding camels through the region also come to the well.

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A man walks past a charred motorcycle in the Lake Chad shore village of N'Gouboua, Thursday, March 5, 2015. Boko Haram militants arrived in N’gouboua before dawn on Feb. 13, marking the first attack of its kind on Chad. By the time the scorched-earth attack ended, they had burned scores of mud-brick houses by torching them with gasoline and had killed at least eight civilians and two security officers. Some 3,400 Nigerian refugees had been living in the village at the time of the attack, and all have since been relocated further inland. (AP Photo / Jerome Delay)

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Chadian authorities believe more than 2,000 people remain trapped on islands, awaiting transport to a refugee camp in one of the world's poorest countries.

"Many are traumatized and come with only the clothes on their backs," said Dimouya Souapebe, the chief civil servant in the area. "We are obliged to welcome them, and share with them what we have to eat."

Some 100,000 Nigerians have fled to in neighboring Niger, with roughly another 60,000 in Cameroon.

Mahamat Abakar, 60, last saw his wife and eight children two months ago as they divided themselves between two small wooden boats. Upon arriving at this refugee camp, he was told that one of his sons was here too. When he saw him, he sobbed.

"I keep the faith that God has saved the rest of them and I will find them too," he says.

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A woman walks in a sand storm near Lake Chad, in Chad, Tuesday March 3, 2015. Chadian troops have seized a strategically located northeast Nigerian town from Boko Haram, but not before the defeated Islamic extremists killed hundreds of civilians, Chad's military said. The Chadian forces regained control Monday of Dikwa, a town occupied by the militants for weeks, said Chad's military spokesman Col. Azem Bermandoua.(AP Photo / Jerome Delay)

The 10-year-old said the boat he was on was sinking and the man paddling it ordered him and another child out. They clung onto tree branches until people in another boat spotted them and brought them to safety.

As a Muslim, the father has only anger for people who claim they are carrying out attacks in the name of Islam.

"There is no passage in the Quran that says you can kill someone and steal their belongings and then kidnap their children," he said, wiping his eyes with a sandy scrap of fabric.

Nigerian boys who fled Boko Haram to Chad play soccer at the Baga Solo refugee camp near the shore of Lake Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2014 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Nigerian girls who fled Boko Haram to Chad gather in a school set up by UNICEF at the Baga Sola refugee camp in Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2015 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. After the Baga massacre, another 15,000 came bringing the total now to about 18,000, Chadian authorities believe there are more than 2,000 others still trapped on islands, awaiting transport to the safety of a refugee camp though there are more arriving each day in one of the poorest countries on Earth. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Chadian troops previously stationed by the Sudanese border make a stop on their way to lake Chad near Baga Sola Friday March 6, 2015. Large contingents of Chadian troops were seen heading to the region bordering Nigeria, where residents and an intelligence officer said Boko Haram fighters are massing at their headquarters in the northeast Nigerian town of Gwoza in preparation for a showdown with multinational forces. (AP Photo / Jerome Delay)

A Nigerian girl who fled Boko Haram to Chad removes a thorn from her foot at the Baga Solo refugee camp near the shore of Lake Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2014 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Nigerians who fled Boko Haram to Chad pass time at the Baga Sola refugee in Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2015 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. After the Baga massacre, another 15,000 came bringing the total now to about 18,000, Chadian authorities believe there are more than 2,000 others still trapped on islands, awaiting transport to the safety of a refugee camp though there are more arriving each day in one of the poorest countries on Earth. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A Chadian man walks past burnt homes in the Lake Chad shore village of N'Gouboua Thursday March 5, 2015. Boko Haram militants arrived in N’gouboua before dawn on Feb. 13, marking the first attack of its kind on Chad. By the time the scorched-earth attack ended, they had burned scores of mud-brick houses by torching them with gasoline and had killed at least eight civilians and two security officers. Some 3,400 Nigerian refugees had been living in te village at the time of the attack, and all have since been relocated further inland. (AP Photo / Jerome Delay)

Nigerians who fled Boko Haram to Chad sit inside a tent at the Baga Solo refugee camp near the shore of Lake Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2014 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A Nigerian boy who fled Boko Haram to Chad receives help at the clinic at the Baga Solo refugee camp near the shore of Lake Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2014 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Chadien men ride their camels near Lake Chad, in Chad, Tuesday March 3, 2015. Chadian troops have seized a strategically located northeast Nigerian town from Boko Haram, but not before the defeated Islamic extremists killed hundreds of civilians, Chad's military said.The Chadian forces regained control Monday of Dikwa, a town occupied by the militants for weeks, said Chad's military spokesman Col. Azem Bermandoua.(AP Photo / Jerome Delay)

Nigerians who fled Boko Haram to Chad sit in a tent at the Baga Solo refugee camp near the shore of Lake Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2014 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A man walks past a a house bearing burn marks in the Lake Chad shore village of N'Gouboua Thursday March 5, 2015. Boko Haram militants arrived in N’gouboua before dawn on Feb. 13, marking the first attack of its kind on Chad. By the time the scorched-earth attack ended, they had burned scores of mud-brick houses by torching them with gasoline and had killed at least eight civilians and two security officers. Some 3,400 Nigerian refugees had been living in te village at the time of the attack, and all have since been relocated further inland. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Nigerians who fled Boko Haram to Chad sit outside their tent at the Baga Solo refugee camp near the shore of Lake Chad, Wednesday March 4, 2015. The camp, jointly run by the Chadian government and UNHCR, opened mid-January 2015 and hosts over 6000 refugees. Officials say that several thousand had arrived in Chad by the end of 2014 as Boko Haram intensified its attacks in the area. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

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See more Boko Haram Refugees photos

Text from AP news story, Boko Haram Refugees Risk Lives To Cross Lake To Chad Camps, by Krista Larson

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