An ambulance is seen on the hospital following a bomb blast in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on March 16, 2026.
| Picture Credit score: AP
“At the least 23 folks have been killed and greater than 100 wounded in suspected suicide bombings on Monday night time (March 16, 2026) that focused Maiduguri metropolis in northeastern Nigeria,” police stated on Tuesday (March 17, 2026). It was one of many deadliest assaults within the conflict-battered metropolis in latest historical past.
Residents and emergency companies earlier advised The Related Press that three explosions have been reported in crowded locations in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, together with in a significant market and on the entrance of the College of Maiduguri Instructing Hospital.
“Regrettably, a complete of 23 individuals misplaced their lives, whereas 108 others sustained various levels of accidents,” Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso stated in a press release that blamed the assaults on suspected suicide bombers.
No group has claimed duty for the assaults, however suspicion shortly fell on the Boko Haram jihadi group, which in 2009 launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria to implement their radical interpretation of Shariah.
Boko Haram has since grow to be stronger, with 1000’s of fighters and completely different factions, together with the Islamic State West Africa Province, which is backed by the Islamic State group.
Maiduguri metropolis has been on the coronary heart of the lethal violence however has in recent times skilled relative peace even because the countryside is usually battered by extremists.
Residents recounted the chaos that adopted the explosions. “This assault’s been one of many deadliest in Maiduguri in years,” stated Mohammed Hassan, a member of a volunteer group aiding safety forces in combating extremists. “We’re in dire want of blood,” he stated of the scenario hours after the assault.
The extremists have intensified their assaults towards Nigerian navy bases, killing a number of senior officers and troopers, and stripping the bases of shares of weaponry and ammunition.
Printed – March 17, 2026 04:50 am IST