ICC Note: The death toll continues to climb to shocking heights in the Maiduguri area of Nigeria where Boko Haram has struck in a cluster of attacks over the last two days with the the body count climbing as high as 80. The upsurge seems to represent a brazen challenge to President Muhammadu Buhari’s assertion that Boko Haram is “technically defeated.” Buhari won the presidency of Nigeria with a campaign promise to defeat the extremist Muslim insurgency, but attacks like this evidence that the goal remains far off.
By Ismail Alfa and Michelle Faul
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Washington Post) — Boko Haram Islamic extremists struck the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri for the first time in months Monday with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers, witnesses said. At least 50 people were killed and the death toll could go higher.
Another twin suicide bombing killed at least 30 people in Madagali, a town 150 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, witnesses said. Danladi Buba said two women blew themselves up at a market near a busy bus station at about 9 a.m. Brig. Gen. Victor Ezugwu, the officer commanding in northeast Adamawa State, confirmed the attack but said casualties have yet to be established.
In Maiduguri, capital of neighboring Borno state, at least 30 were killed and more than 90 wounded in overnight blasts and shootouts, and another 20 died in a bombing outside a mosque at dawn Monday, said Muhammed Kanar, area coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency.
The military said there were multiple attacks at four southwestern entry points to the city.
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