At least 50 killed in Boko Haram attacks

Boko Haram Islamic extremists struck the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri for the first time in months on Monday with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers, witnesses said and at least 50 people were killed and the death toll could increase.

At least 30 were killed and more than 90 wounded in overnight blasts and another 20 were killed at Monday's mosque bombing, said Muhammed Kanar, co-ordinator for the area's emergency agency.

The military said there were multiple attacks at four southwestern entry points to the city, including a woman suicide bomber who killed one person and injured 13 gathered outside a mosque after dawn prayers on Monday.


In another blast, two girls blew themselves up in the Buraburin neighbourhood, killing several people. The attack appears to be a challenge to President Muhammadu Buhari's declaration last week that Boko Haram has been "technically" defeated, capable of no more than suicide bombings on soft targets.

Acting on information provided by a captured insurgent, Nigerian troops "intercepted and destroyed" 13 suicide bombers and arrested one female suicide bomber in repelling the attackers, said Major General Lamidi Adeosun, the commander prosecuting Nigeria's war against Boko Haram.

Maiduguri, the city under attack, is the birthplace of Boko Haram, which emerged as a much more radical entity after Nigerian security forces launched an all-out assault on their compound in the city, killing 700 people in 2009.