Several suspected coordinated suicide bombing attacks in the city of Maiduguri in the Borno state of Nigeria have killed at least 23 people and injured over 100 others.
The northeastern State in Nigeria has faced several attacks carried out by Islamic extremists, killing thousands and displacing 2 million people in the past 17 years.
The recent attack on Monday evening struck a local post office in the city center, a popular Monday market, the University of Maidiguri Teaching Hospital, and Kaleri, a community on the eastern side of the city.
According to a statement by the state police, “Preliminary investigation reveals that the incidents were carried out by suspected suicide bombers,” adding that further investigation is being carried out to fully understand the circumstances of the attack. The police also assured that it has tightened security since the reports of the attack, to prevent any further attacks.
President Bola Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, has described the incident as an act of terror and has directed security officials to move to Maduguri and take control of the situation
According to the Nigerian military, it had detected increased threats of suicide bomb attacks by Islamic extremist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province during the final days of the Muslim sacred month of Ramadan.
Nigeria’s northwest has also experienced the growth of jihadists, where bandits have engaged in several menaces such as kidnapping and attacks on communities and schools.
The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in northern Nigeria in December and has since deployed servicemen to assist Nigerian forces in facing militants.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah