Breaking: Many feared dead as twin bomb blasts rock Maiduguri

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, was plunged into chaos Monday evening as multiple bomb explosions rocked busy civilian areas.

This comes hours after security forces successfully repelled a pre-dawn attack by suspected jihadists on a military base on the city’s outskirts, official sources and residents have confirmed.

The blasts, which occurred around 7 p.m. shortly after the iftar meal, targeted the bustling Monday Market and the gate of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), according to the police and eyewitness accounts.

An unspecified number of people are feared dead, with many others injured. The Head of Operations of the Federal Fire Service in Borno State, Mohammed Kafaran, confirmed the agency had deployed teams to the scene.

“There were dead bodies on the ground, and many persons with wounds have been rushed to the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri,” an eyewitness told PUNCH Online.

Borno State Police Command spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso confirmed the incident in a post on his X handle.

“Following reports of a suspected explosion at Maiduguri Monday Market and UMTH gate at about 7:20 PM, joint security operatives and emergency responders have been deployed,” Daso stated.

He added that the Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit was on the ground conducting assessments .

Residents reported hearing loud explosions in multiple locations, including near the Post Office, Kaleri, and the hospital vicinity, sending panicked crowds fleeing for safety .

The evening bombings came after a night of heightened tension in the city. In the early hours of Monday, suspected Boko Haram or Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters attempted to storm a military base in the Ajilari Cross district, a southwestern suburb just kilometers from the city’s airport.

Security sources told Reuters that three blasts were heard near the post office, a local market, and a hospital, while another explosion rocked the Kaleri neighborhood.

Police spokesman Daso described it as a “foiled attack by suspected BH/ISWAP terrorists” and confirmed that a joint security team was mobilized, restoring calm to the area.

Residents reported that the attack, which began around 12:45 a.m., involved sporadic gunshots that lasted nearly an hour as soldiers and police returned fire.

“At about 12:15 am this morning, we started hearing gunshots coming from the military base. Later, we realised it was an attack by insurgents believed to be Boko Haram,” Ajilari Cross resident Mustapha Aminu told AFP. He added that residents counted four corpses of the attackers.

Another resident, Yakaka Ali Gana, described the attack as unprecedented for their community.

“C’est la première fois que des assaillants font irruption dans notre communauté et attaquent la base militaire,” she said.

Police spokesman Daso posted on X that a separate incident was also thwarted in Damboa local government area, south of Maiduguri, around the same time.

He stated that no casualties were recorded among the military or civilians, though the insurgents were believed to have suffered losses.

Maiduguri, once the epicenter of shootings and bombings during the peak of the jihadist insurgency in the mid-2010s, had enjoyed relative calm in recent years.

The last major attack on the city dates back to 2021, when Boko Haram fighters fired mortars, killing ten people . In December, an unclaimed bombing at a city mosque killed at least seven .