Just In! Three Bomb Explosions Hit Maiduguri

Three blasts hit the city of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday killing a number of people, locals and the Red Cross said.

AFP reports that the “huge explosions” happened in the Ajilari Cross area of the city, which has been targeted by similar attacks twice in the last month, including on September 20 when 117 were killed.

The previous attacks were blamed on Boko Haram, which has increasingly hit “soft” civilian targets in recent months using suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices.

It was not immediately clear what caused the latest blasts, which happened in quick succession from 8:10 pm (1910 GMT), said Bashir Mohammed, whose house is near the scene.

“We are all confused and people are running helter-skelter,” he said.

Sheriff Ahmad, a cleric in the area, said: “Many people have been killed. I don’t know how many and I don’t think anyone can tell you now.”

Ahmad described seeing body parts on his house, while Hafsat Sani, a nurse at the nearby Umaru Shehu Hospital, said: “There are many houses around the area and the blasts have affected many of them.”

The hospital quickly began receiving the injured while police, soldiers, the Red Cross and officials from Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were mobilised, he said.