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Nigerian car bomb causes chaos in Maiduguri Nigerian car bomb causes chaos in Maiduguri
(35 minutes later)
Many are feared killed and injured after a car bomb exploded at a military checkpoint in a busy commercial area in north-east Nigeria. A car bomb exploded at a military post in a commercial area in a north-eastern Nigerian city on Tuesday, causing pandemonium with blood-spattered bystanders running away and vehicles colliding as drivers rushed to flee.
People tried to flee as a second car was ignited by the explosion in Maiduguri and soldiers started firing automatic rifles. Vehicles smashed into each other as motorists drove fast to escape. A suicide bomber is suspected of causing the lunchtime blast in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist network that has been terrorising north-east Nigeria. There was no immediate casualty toll.
A suicide bomber is suspected to have set off the blast at lunchtime on Tuesday. Soldiers started firing automatic rifles in the air after the explosion sent a dense column of dark smoke into the air at 1.30pm in front of a large military post called JTF Sector 4. A nearby vehicle also burst into flames.
Maiduguri is the birthplace of the Boko Haram extremist network that has been terrorising north-east Nigeria. Thousands of people have been killed in the insurgency affecting parts of Nigeria's predominantly Muslim northern half. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in May and thousands of security forces were deployed to the area. They swiftly drove militants out of Maiduguri and most other cities but the insurgents have begun striking back in the urban centres.
More details soon … On 2 December, hundreds of Boko Haram fighters in trucks and a stolen armoured personnel carrier attacked an air force base and international airport on the outskirts of Maiduguri in one of the insurgent group's most daring attacks. Two helicopters and three decommissioned military aircraft were badly damaged.
A US travel advisory issued earlier in January noted that "late 2013 saw an increase in Boko Haram attacks and clashes with Nigerian government security forces in northern Nigeria … Boko Haram is known to descend on whole towns, robbing banks and businesses, attacking police and military installations, and setting fire to private homes."
The extremist uprising began in 2009 and threatens the security and cohesion of Africa's biggest oil producer and its most populous nation, with more than 160 million people. The extremists say they want to impose Islamic sharia law across all of Nigeria.
In one of the group's highest-profile attacks, a Boko Haram member detonated a car bomb at the United Nations main offices in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, in August 2011, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100 others. The US last year designated Boko Haram a terrorist organisation.
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