Expdonaloaded News; Suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber kills 54 in north-eastern Nigeria

At least 54 people were killed and 90 wounded when several bombs exploded in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri in Borno state.The bombers targeted a mosque and football fans watching a televised match. The city had been free from such attacks for about a month when the bombs went off on Sunday evening. It was last hit by a bomb at the end of July and there was a skirmish with suspected Boko Haram militants on the outskirts in mid-August.


Victor Isuku, a police spokesman in Maiduguri, said: “A suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber detonated IEDs [improvised explosive devices]at a mosque in Ajilari and some insurgents also threw IEDs at a viewing centre. Total casualty figure is now 54.”
A Nigerian army spokesman said on Sunday that three bombs had gone off.
There has still not been any claim for the attack but it bore the hallmarks of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has been trying to carve out a state in the country’s north-east since 2009.
Maiduguri is the birthplace of the insurgency which has killed thousands and displaced 2.1 million people.
After President Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration, attacks rose across northern Nigeria and Maiduguri was hit on a near-weekly basis.
A new offensive launched by the Nigerian army to clear Boko Haram out of more towns over the last month saw a sharp drop in the frequency of attacks in Borno, the worst affected by the insurrection, and neighbouring states.