Benjamin Strick Profile picture
Investigations Director @Cen4infoRes. Past BBC & @Bellingcat. Tutorials: https://t.co/jwll4Af0ax. OSINT/GEOINT. Views my own.

Jul 14, 2018, 14 tweets

The video of #Cameroonian executions of mothers and children by alleged Military forces has evidence that will lead to the exact location of where the execution took place. If you know anyone that lives in North Cameroon, please share this thread with them.

This image is a recreation of all of the footage pieced together in a geographic string. As you can see, there are significant land features on either side of the track walked by the victims and their executioners.

The mountain in the distance on the side of the track that was in the view of the cameraman has a specific signature. The image provides indication of what @googleearth should be showing us for ranges.
With this information, we have a mountain, buildings, and road on one side.

When viewing satellite images @googleearth or @bing maps, these structures are key. At the origin of the path where the executioners walk, the building on the side has a fabricated roof (likely tin as others in the area use this).

The village where the execution took place has what seems to be a retaining wall of a mud brick-make. This will appear as a straight line running on an angle from the dirt road.

There is another building that is in direct view of the area where the execution took place. It also has a fabricated roof (tin) and has people out the front with white shirts (possibly a uniform of a school).

There are further buildings on the right of the path, just before the executioners leave the path. This shows that the village has a large reach. These are also tin roof-buildings. There is a light shading in the front of the image, this could be a path leading to the buildings.

At the end of the path, we have a slight bend. Given the distance of the path, this bend would be a slight 'kink' in the road that leads to other buildings.

These are 'water terraces' to control the flow of water from the small knoll (hill) where the execution took place. These are straight manmade objects and appear regularly on North Cameroonian mapping.

@danriversitv pointed out that this tree is significantly different to many others in the area and has distinguishing features that someone may be able to identify.

@Brian_Castner and @AmnestyWARO have identified the area through their contacts and resources as Northern Cameroon. With a more crowdsourced approach, the right person should be able to identify some of these features in a bid to assist @amnesty in their reporting.

In the beginning of the video, we can see that there is a very light colored building on the right. While it is hard to make out, you can see that there is a distinct difference to the sky. In the very last frame, it is most notable.

I have added a screenshot that shows a clear shadow of one of the shooters. We can see that he is walking with the sun, and not into it or against it. This would also indicate the time of day given the angle. Which may be morning or afternoon.

Thanks to @obretix for this OSINT Skill.

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