At least 23 killed and 100 wounded in suspected suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — At least 23 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in suspected suicide bombings Monday night that targeted Maiduguri city in northeastern Nigeria, police said Tuesday. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the conflict-battered city in recent history.

Residents and emergency services earlier told The Associated Press that three explosions were reported in crowded places in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, including in a major market and at the entrance of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

“Regrettably, a total of 23 persons lost their lives, while 108 others sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said in a statement that blamed the attacks on suspected suicide bombers.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who left the country on Tuesday for a two-day state visit to the United Kingdom, expressed his condolences for the victims and directed security chiefs to move to Maiduguri to “take charge of the situation.”

“The Monday attacks were desperate acts of the evil-minded terrorist groups. Our gallant military and civilian task forces will curtail and put them down,” Tinubu said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion quickly fell on the Boko Haram jihadi group, which in 2009 launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria to enforce their radical interpretation of Shariah, or Islamic law.

Boko Haram has since become stronger, with thousands of fighters and different factions, including the Islamic State West Africa Province, which is backed by the Islamic State group.

The first explosion was recorded at about 7:30 p.m. at the entrance of the teaching hospital, while the second and third followed a few minutes later at the popular Monday Market and nearby Post Office business hub, both located about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the hospital.

Witnesses recounted the chaos that followed at the scenes and at hospitals as security forces and emergency services quickly intervened.

“This attack has been one of the deadliest in Maiduguri in years,” said Mohammed Hassan, a member of a volunteer group assisting security forces in fighting extremists. He said hospitals were “in dire need of blood” to treat victims.

Maiduguri city has been at the heart of the deadly violence but has in recent years experienced relative peace even as the countryside is often battered by extremists.

The attack took place less than 24 hours after the Nigerian military repelled attacks by militants on the outskirts of Maiduguri, in what some residents say could have been planned as a distraction.

By Tuesday morning, there was heavy security deployment in the affected locations and along major roads in the city. Many public places remained closed amid heightened fear.

“Investigations are ongoing to further ascertain the circumstances surrounding the incidents and to bring perpetrators to justice,” the Borno police command said.

Extremists have intensified their attacks against Nigerian military bases in recent weeks, killing several senior officers and soldiers, and stripping the bases of stocks of weaponry and ammunition.

The multiple attacks could be seen as a major victory for the jihadis in a city seen as impregnable despite the jihadis often targeting troops and villages on the outskirts of the city.

Last year an apparent suicide attack killed five at a mosque on Christmas Eve in the city last year.

“Maiduguri being attacked is like an insult for the security forces ... and for the (jihadi) groups, it is symbolic because it shows nowhere is out of their reach,” said Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher with Good Governance Africa.