By Ahmed Kingimi
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, March 16 (Reuters) – Multiple blasts on Monday struck Maiduguri city, capital of Nigeria’s insurgency-hit northeastern state of Borno, with several people feared killed, the state governor and residents said.
Videos circulating online showed emergency responders at a Maiduguri hospital attending to injured people, some with torn and bloodied clothes. Reuters could not immediately verify the videos.
Borno state Governor Babagana Zulum in a statement said the explosions had claimed victims and injured others, without elaborating or saying who was responsible.
“The act is utterly condemnable, barbaric, and inhumane,” said Zulum.
The first blast went off at a post office in the city centre and was immediately followed by another at the popular Monday market nearby, two security sources and three Maiduguri residents told Reuters.
The sources and residents said two more blasts hit the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, and another struck the eastern neighbourhood of Kaleri, all in the early evening of Monday.
RESIDENTS SEE BODIES AFTER BLAST
The residents said they had seen dead bodies following the blast at the market. The number of casualties, or what caused the blasts, was not immediately clear.
Borno state police spokesperson Nahum Daso Kenneth said security operatives and emergency responders were deployed following reports of the blasts.
“Residents are advised to remain calm and avoid the area while assessments continue,” he said.
The Nigerian military, in a statement earlier, said security forces had repelled attacks on the outskirts of Maiduguri by suspected Islamist insurgents in the early hours of Monday.
Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have carried out several attacks against army bases across Borno this month, killing several troops and seizing weapons.
(Reporting by Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri; Additional reporting by Adewale Kolowale in Maiduguri; Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Daniel Wallis and Matthew Lewis)
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