Maiduguri in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state was hit on March 16 by multiple suspected suicide bombings targeting a hospital and two markets, police said. The attacks killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 100, according to the police account carried by the Associated Press.
The Associated Press said the assault was among the deadliest episodes in Maiduguri in recent history. It also placed the March 16 bombings within a broader timeline of major attacks in Borno over the past five years, illustrating how frequently public venues and civilian spaces have been struck.
The AP timeline cited Feb. 23, 2021, when suspected Boko Haram militants fired rocket-propelled grenades into densely populated areas of Maiduguri, including a university and a children’s playground, killing at least 10 people. It also cited June 29, 2024, when female suicide bombers targeted a wedding, a funeral and a hospital in the town of Gwoza in coordinated attacks that killed at least 32 people and injured more than 100; the AP report said no group claimed responsibility, while noting that the use of suicide bombers has been attributed to Boko Haram.
The timeline further noted an attack on Jan. 26, 2025, when a suicide bomber drove a vehicle with explosives into a convoy of Nigerian troops targeting Islamic State militants in the remote village of Malam-Fatori, killing himself and “scores of soldiers.” The AP also cited June 20, 2025, when a suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and injured several others in an explosion in a restaurant in Konduga.
The AP timeline added that on Sept. 5, 2025, Boko Haram killed over 60 people during a nighttime attack on Darul Jamal, a village that had recently received residents returning from an internally displaced persons camp. It also cited Dec. 24, 2025, when a bomb exploded during prayers at a mosque in Maiduguri, killing five people in what police described as a likely suicide attack.
In the months leading up to the March 16 episode, the AP timeline also cited Jan. 26, 2026, when suspected Boko Haram militants killed seven Nigerian soldiers and captured 13 others during an ambush on troops patrolling the Damasak area of Borno.