A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in Nigeria’s Maiduguri City, killing at least 16 people, local sources said, after a night-time attack blamed on Boko Haram fighters on the outskirts of the city.
The attacks on Saturday occurred a day after the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who swore to crush the armed group and move the command center for military operations away from the capital Abuja to Maiduguri, Al Jazeera reported.
The bomber blew himself inside the Alhaji Haruna Mosque next to the Monday Market just after the afternoon prayers began, Borno police chief Aderemi Opadokun and witnesses said.
“The roof was blown off and fire destroyed the mats and a few Qu’rans,” market trader Nura Khalid said.
Earlier, the military repelled an overnight attack launched by men firing rocket-propelled grenades into homes in a bombardment that lasted several hours. At least 10 people were killed in the assault that authorities said was carried out by Boko Haram militants in a suburb of Maiduguri. Borno has borne the brunt of many of the recent attacks by the group. The violence has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Suicide bombings and other attacks by the group have killed more than 13,000 people and displaced an estimated 1.5 million since 2009.
