Suicide attack at military checkpoint in Maiduguri

A suicide bomber hit a military checkpoint in
Maiduguri on Monday, in the latest of a string of
attacks blamed on Boko Haram Islamists.
The blast happened at about 12:10 pm at the
Jimtilo checkpoint, as passengers arriving in
Maiduguri were being screened, two civilian
vigilantes told newsmen. “There have been
casualties but we’re still working to confirm the
numbers,” said Babakura Kolo, who is part of the
militia assisting the military against the
insurgents.
On Saturday, two people were killed in Maiduguri
when two suicide bombers in a motorised
rickshaw tried to target a busy bus station but
were foiled by heavy security.
Just over an hour later, a man disguised as a
woman and wearing a full-face veil blew himself
up at a crowded market in Chad’s capital,
N’Djamena, killing 15 people.
The attacks come as Nigeria and its neighbours
gear up to deploy a strengthened regional force
against Boko Haram, which has increased the
frequency and intensity of its attacks on civilians.
Maiduguri, where the group was founded in 2002,
has been repeatedly targeted and since
Muhammadu Buhari became president on May 29,
nearly 570 people have been killed in Nigeria
alone.
Danlami Ajaokuta, another civilian vigilante, said
the bomber struck in the middle of the crowd of
passengers.
“It is standard procedure at the checkpoint for
passengers to alight from their vehicles and walk
some distance to a shed manned by the soldiers,”
he explained.
“They identify themselves before they trek some
more distance past the checkpoint and then enter
their vehicles and move on.”
Residents in Maiduguri have been on edge for
months over the wave of new attacks and one,
Ibrahim Buba, said the explosion rocked the city.
“We later saw two military jets flying southwards,”
said Ibrahim Buba, who lives nearby.
“One of them later returned and we learnt that the
jets were in pursuit of some Boko Haram gunmen
that were sighted in the bush, apparently planning
to attack the city.”
Buhari, who has vowed to crush the militants, is
coming under pressure because of the mounting
death toll and the military’s apparent inability to
stop attacks on civilian “soft” targets.
But Nigeria’s highest-ranking army officer,
Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah ( Now rtd)
told a conference in Abuja that troops had
“achieved tremendous success” in recent months.
“Today, their (Boko Haram’s) ability to face our
gallant troops in any form of combat has been
seriously degraded,” he said.
“Consequently, the terrorists have cowardly
resorted to attacking innocent and vulnerable
citizens in markets, places of worship and similar
places.”