At least 18 persons were killed and 29 others injured on Wednesday evening as two suicide bombers attacked a crowded suburb of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, police said.
Deafening blasts were heard echoing over the Maiduguri metropolis late in the evening of Wednesday as the suspected Boko Haram attackers let go their explosives.
The spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force in Borno, Victor Isukwu, who later provided details via a text statement, said the attacks were carried out by four suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers.
He said the suicide bombers – two male and two female – targeted some crowded locations of Muna Gari, a suburb of Maiduguri that falls under Konduga Local Government Area.
“Today 15/11/2017, at about 1813hrs, four suicide bombers, two males and two females, infiltrated Muna Gari community in Konduga LGA, and detonated IED strapped to their bodies at different location,” Mr. Isukwu, a deputy superintendent of police, said.
“The first explosion occurred at a prayer ground, while the other explosions occurred thereafter, all within the community.
“A total of eighteen persons including the four suicide bombers, died in the multiple explosions. While twenty nine others sustained various degrees of injuries and were rushed to university of Maiduguri teaching hospital/State Specialist Hospital for medical attention.”
He added that police patrol and explosive teams were promptly mobilised to the scene of the attacks to ensure the place was sanitised and rendered safe.
“Normalcy has been restored to the community”, he said.
Wednesday’s attacks occurred about the same time suspected Boko Haram members stormed two communities in Madagali Local Government Area of neighbouring Adamawa State.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Adamawa State governor, however, said the attackers were eventually repelled by soldiers and local vigilante. The casualty from that attack is yet to be confirmed.
The Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria has caused about 100,000 deaths since 2009.
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