Attacks in Maiduguri city occurred while soldiers were trying to repel another group of Boko Haram fighters.

At least 11 people have been killed and several others injured after Boko Haram fighters launched a series of attacks in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, according to police.

Damian Chukwu, Borno state police commissioner, said one civilian was killed as locals in the Jiddari Polo area of the city fled the fighters, while 10 were killed nearby in three separate suicide blasts on Thursday.

The fighters targeted mosques where Muslim worshippers were praying on Wednesday evening, witnesses told local media.

The attack occurred while soldiers were trying to repel another group of Boko Haram fighters, who were trying to invade the city.

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“Some suspected Boko Haram fighters attempted to attack a far off village and our troops subdued them,” Sani Usman, Nigerian military spokesman, said in a statement.

“The situation in Maiduguri is under control.”

Fighters thought to be loyal to the group’s leader Abubaker Shekau stormed the Aridawari settlement on the outskirts of the city.

Abba Shehu, a private security worker, said wounded people filled the emergency ward of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, where all beds were in use.

Maiduguri has been the epicentre of the eight-year fight against Boko Haram.

The attack comes barely a month after five commanders of the armed group were released from government custody in exchange for 82 schoolgirls, who were among the group of over 200 kidnapped by the fighters from Chikbok town three years ago.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million made homeless in northeast Nigeria since the start of Boko Haram’s armed campaign in 2009.

Nigeria’s government and military maintain that Boko Haram is a spent force, but intermittent attacks and suicide bombings pose a constant threat, particularly in remote areas.







