TheCable

Amnesty International has described Boko Haram attacks in Maiduguri on Wednesday has the most vicious this year.

The organisation was reacting to reports of coordinated attacks by Boko Haram that killed at least 17 people and injured 34 more on Wednesday night.

It asked Nigerian authorities to double their effort to protect citizens.

It also asked the government to bring the actual perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

“Boko Haram must end its campaign of vicious and unlawful killings of civilians. These deplorable attacks took place at a time when Muslims were breaking their fast during the holy month of Ramadan and demonstrate complete disregard for human life,” Osai Ojigho, director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said in a statement on Friday.

“The Nigerian authorities must do more to protect civilians and bring the actual perpetrators of all such attacks to justice, rather than sweeping up hundreds of suspects and holding them indefinitely in horrific, life-threatening conditions.”

The attacks started at around 6.30pm when Boko Haram fighters opened fire randomly in Jiddari Polo community in Maiduguri, one of the northern region’s biggest towns. Later, at around 9pm, four suicide bombers detonated explosive devices near the Lake Chad Basin Research Institute in Goni Kachallari area of the town.

Amnesty International said one witness explained how he heard four explosions, one very close-by and that two of his children, 13-year old twins, were injured by shrapnel.”

“Some of the injuries were minor while some were serious like one whose nose was split. I quickly looked for pieces of cloth to tie the nose to prevent it from severing and to also stop the bleeding,” the eye-witness was quoted to have said.

“The man said that he and his neighbours gave first aid to people who had been injured by the blast and accompanied them to hospital.

“In total, we brought 17 injured people to the hospital, mostly teenagers. Two died.”

The human rights watchdog added it believed that, based on analysis of the pattern of attacks as well as information gathered from witnesses and human rights activists, that the attacks fit the pattern of Boko Haram’s methods and targets.