Nigerian military official: Extremists detonate 3 explosions in Borno state

The attacks targeted the Ajilari Cross evening market area and neighbouring Gomari, hitting worshippers at a mosque and football fans watching a televised match.

Five people, including three perpetrators and one police officer, were killed and several others were wounded on Sunday in a new bomb attack that rocked Cameroon’s Far North region, according to a military source. “Later we came back to help, we evacuated 16 dead bodies to the general hospital in Monguno and 28 injured”, said Bukar Lawal, a resident of the town who was near the first blast.

Nigerian authorities have frequently underplayed tolls of deaths and injuries in previous attacks in the insurgency.

A school in the city of Gwoza, which had been the headquarters of the group’s Islamic Caliphate, was reopened Saturday by Nigeria’s military, military spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman told AP.

Nigeria’s army, aided by troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon, said it pushed Boko Haram out of most of that land earlier this year.

Ajilari Crossing is an outskirt of Maiduguri which has witnessed series of Boko Haram attacks including bombings in the recent past.

Trader Faruq Ali said a third device went off at a mosque in Binta Sugar area, which is also heavily populated and close by.

At least 54 people have been killed and scores injured after three deadly explosions in Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria.

Dreaded group, Boko Haram, is suspected to be behind the attacks.

Shekau has not been seen on video since February and until an audio message last month had not spoken since March, when he proclaimed Boko Haram’s allegiance to the so-called Islamic State group.

“I saw police and emergency rescue workers carrying more than ten dead bodies”, he told Anadolu Agency by phone. Boko Haram militants frequently cross into neighboring Cameroon, where thousands of Nigerians have sought refuge.