TheCable

At least  27 people lost their lives while several others sustained injuries when Boko Haram insurgents struck at Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, on Saturday.

A security source told Reuters that the first attack happened between 1: am and 2:20 am, while the other occurred around 3:00pm at a mosque in the town.

“A rocket launcher from Boko Haram hit a house around the Bulumkutu area…and killed five people. Our boys also picked up six corpses in different locations,” Mohammed Bunu, a local militia member, said.

“The militants tried to cross trenches dug around the city.”

Kashim Shettima, governor of the state, who visited the scene of the second attack, said 16 persons died in the blast.

The attacks happened a day after twin bomb blasts rocked a wedding venue in Tashan Alade, a remote Borno town, killing at least six people.

During his inauguration on Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari directed that the military command centre should relocate to Maiduguri till the situation in the northeast is brought under control.

Menwhile, Buhari has condemned the attacks, warning that his administration would not tolerate “wanton and wilful destruction of life by criminal elements that are bent on anarchy”.

According to Garba Shehu, head of the president’s media team, Buhari said he was committed to tackling insecurity with all the resources available to his government.

He called for increased vigilance by local communities and condoled families of the victims of the latest attacks, assuring them that the “days of the criminal elements will be over soon”.