Police in Nigeria say suspected suicide bombings killed at least 23
Three suspected suicide bombings in Maiduguri, in Nigeria’s northeast, killed at least 23 people and wounded 108 others, police said Tuesday, describing the attacks as among the deadliest to hit the city in recent history.
Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said the wounded “sustained varying degrees of injuries,” and he attributed the blasts to suspected suicide bombers in a statement, according to the police account reported by The Associated Press.
The explosions were reported Monday night in crowded areas of Maiduguri, including the entrance of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and sites in the city center, where residents and emergency services told AP the blasts occurred amid heavy foot traffic.
Tinubu, who left Nigeria on Tuesday for a two-day state visit to the United Kingdom, expressed condolences for the victims and directed security chiefs to act, AP reported. In remarks carried by AP, Tinubu said: “The Monday attacks were desperate acts of the evil-minded terrorist groups,” adding that “Our gallant military and civilian task forces will curtail and put them down.”
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion quickly focused on Boko Haram, the jihadi group that began an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 to enforce what it calls Shariah, or Islamic law, AP reported.
The timing and locations of the blasts were described by witnesses and emergency responders. The first explosion was recorded at about 7:30 p.m. at the entrance of the teaching hospital, and the second and third blasts followed a few minutes later at the Monday Market and the nearby Post Office business hub, both about 4 kilometers (2½ miles) from the hospital.
Witnesses described the immediate chaos after the explosions. Caleb Jonah, a survivor of the hospital-entrance blast, told AP he was injured after seeing two men struggling with security at the gate before hearing a blast and passing out. Another resident, Mamman Usman, 52, told AP that his younger brother, who worked at the Monday Market, was about to close his stall when the blast occurred; Usman said his brother was badly injured and rushed to the hospital unconscious.
By Tuesday morning, residents reported a heavy security deployment in affected locations and along major roads, and many public places remained closed amid heightened fear, AP reported. The Borno police command said in a statement that investigations were ongoing to ascertain what happened and bring those responsible to justice.
The attacks came less than 24 hours after Nigeria’s military repelled attacks by militants on the outskirts of Maiduguri, in an incident some residents said could have been planned as a distraction, AP reported. In recent weeks, extremists have also stepped up attacks against Nigerian military bases, killing several senior officers and soldiers and drawing down weaponry and ammunition from the bases.
Malik Samuel, a security researcher with Good Governance Africa, told AP that attacks on Maiduguri carry symbolic weight for extremists and for security forces, saying Maiduguri being attacked is “like an insult” and that it shows “nowhere is out of their reach.”