Suspected terrorists killed at least 54 people when they detonated explosive devices in crowded places Sunday night in Maiduguri, the capital of the Borno state in northeast Nigeria, members of a civilian defense group said on Monday.
Around 43 people died in an attack on a mosque while 11 were killed in an attack on a market center, said the civilian defense force members, who insisted anonymity for fear of reprisals from the Nigerian military which has been deployed to guard civilians in the town.
However, locals in the city said at least 85 people were killed in the series of bombings disputing a lower figure of 54 given by police.
“I can assure you that no fewer than 85 people died,” said resident Sabo Ahmed. “The figure given by the police is just the number of people taken to hospital.
The Borno state police said earlier that 54 people had died in Sunday night’s explosions, which ripped through the Aljari Cross and Gomari areas of the city.
There were four explosions in the attacks; one in a mosque after evening prayers, another at a marketplace and two homemade explosives were thrown into a business center where people charge their phones and play video games, said a member of the civilian militia.
The blasts occurred within 20 minutes, he said.
A resident of the Binta Sugar neighbourhood, Alhaji Jidda, said that the mosque is thought to have been hit by a female suicide bomber.
A dusk till dawn curfew in Maiduguri limits the flow of information as journalists fear of getting attacked by the militants or the army at night.
The number wounded from the blasts was still not available, said Lt.Col. Tukuru Gusau, the army spokesman for the 7th Division based in Maiduguri.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the initial suspicion has fallen on the extremist group Boko Haram, which has resorted to hit-and-run tactics after the Nigerian military recaptured territory once held by the militants.
