On Monday evening (March 16), the police in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, which has long been plagued by unrest, issued a statement indicating that Maiduguri, the state capital, likely experienced multiple consecutive suicide bomb attacks, resulting in at least 23 people tragically killed and 108 others injured.
For the past 17 years, Borno State has been the epicenter of Islamic insurgency in Nigeria, claiming thousands of lives and displacing 2 million people.
Information from security sources and residents of Maiduguri revealed to Reuters on March 16 that the first explosion occurred at the post office in the city center, followed by a second blast at the “Monday market.”
Later on Monday evening, the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital was also targeted in a bomb attack, while another explosion occurred in the Kaleri community in the east of the city.
The state police stated in their announcement, “Preliminary investigations indicate that these incidents were carried out by suspected suicide bombers.” However, the statement did not specify the identity of the perpetrators.
The police added that normalcy has since been restored in the area, with heightened patrols by security forces throughout the city to prevent further attacks. An investigation into the attack is currently underway.
Security analysts have pointed out that this attack bears the typical hallmark of the insurgent group Boko Haram. The organization, along with ISWAP, the Islamic State West Africa Province, has been expanding and intensifying its assaults on the Nigerian military in Borno State.
Maiduguri was once considered one of the relatively safer cities in Borno State. However, on Christmas Day last year, a suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a mosque, resulting in the death of at least 5 worshipers and injuring 35 others.
In addition to the insurgency in the northeast, terrorist militants continue to expand into the northwest of the country, perpetrating destruction through kidnappings, attacks on communities, and schools.
The United States conducted airstrikes in northwest Nigeria last December and has begun deploying a small number of troops to train the Nigerian military in countering these terrorist militants.
(This article is based on reports from Reuters)