A wave of suspected suicide bombings tore through the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Monday evening, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others, in one of the deadliest attacks on the city in years. The three blasts struck bustling civilian locations, including the city's main Monday Market, the gate of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), and an area near the Post Office flyover, causing panic and chaos. The attacks have ended a period of relative peace in the city, which had been spared the level of violence that plagued it during the peak of the insurgency in the mid-2010s.
Borno State Police Command spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso confirmed that the explosions occurred around 7:24 p.m. and were the work of suspected suicide bombers. "Preliminary investigation reveals that the incidents were carried out by suspected suicide bombers," Daso stated. "Regrettably, a total of twenty-three (23) persons lost their lives, while one hundred and eight (108) others sustained varying degrees of injuries". A militia source suggested the death toll could be as high as 31. An AFP reporter at a city hospital witnessed dozens of wounded seeking treatment and multiple bodies covered by sheets on the sidewalk outside.
Emergency responders, including the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), swiftly evacuated the wounded to medical facilities. Police tactical units, the military, and other security forces were deployed to secure and cordon off the affected areas, while the Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit swept the scenes for any additional threats.
The Monday evening bombings came just hours after suspected jihadists launched an attack on a Nigerian military post in the Ajilari Cross district, a southwestern suburb of Maiduguri. That assault occurred around midnight and was repelled by troops, with residents reporting the deaths of four attackers. Another attempted attack was thwarted the same night in the Damboa Local Government Area, south of Maiduguri . This sequence of events suggests a coordinated effort to destabilize the city and its surroundings.
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno State, the epicenter of a 16-year insurgency waged by militant groups Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Their campaign to establish their rule has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million. While Maiduguri had been relatively calm in recent years, with attacks pushed to rural areas, Monday's bombings represent a significant setback. The last major attack in the city was in 2021 when Boko Haram jihadists fired mortars, killing 10 people. A bombing at a city mosque in December, which killed at least seven, foreshadowed this latest resurgence of violence.
Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum condemned the bombings as "barbaric" and linked the recent surge in attacks to intensified military operations in the nearby Sambisa Forest, a known jihadist stronghold. Witnesses described terrifying scenes. Mala Mohammed, 31, who escaped the market blast, recounted hearing two explosions and seeing panicked people running. As crowds fled toward the Post Office area, a bomber ran into them and detonated another device. The police assured the public that "normalcy has been fully restored" and that security forces have increased their "presence and surveillance across Maiduguri and its environs to prevent any further occurrences".