54 dead as Boko Haram hits Maiduguri, NE Nigeria
September 21, 2015 19:57
At least 54 people were killed in a series of blasts in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, police said today, the latest attacks by Boko Haram militants on "soft" civilian targets.
The attacks targeted the Ajilari Cross evening market area and neighbouring Gomari, hitting worshippers at a mosque and football fans watching a televised match.
The army and rescuers said the explosions were caused by homemade devices but one local and the police said a female suicide bomber also blew herself up.
"Fifty-four persons died while 90 others were injured," Borno state police spokesman Victor Isuku told reporters.
"Those injured are being treated at Umaru Shehu General hospital and the (Borno) State Specialist hospital respectively."
Locals however, put the death toll at at least 21. The blasts - the latest to hit the city in the six-year insurgency - came after Nigeria's army claimed the rebels were in disarray.
But Boko Haram's shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau denied the group was a spent force, describing the military claims as "lies" in an audio recording published via social media on Saturday.
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