Numerous Boko Haram attacks in Maiduguri, many featuring female suicide bombers, killed close to 80 people in the last few days.
On Sunday, witnesses claimed the militants “blew themselves up” as other militants fired “from the back of three trucks and launched grenades that set homes afire in Duwari village. One woman pretended to be a victim, but detonated her bomb as she gathered a family. Another woman jumped into a group of victims and blew herself up.”
Residents told the media the terrorists killed Duwari’s village chief and ten of his children.
Two suicide bombers killed 30 people in Madagali, which is located “95 miles southeast of Maiduguri.”
Two female suicide bombers killed “several people” in the Buraburin neighborhood.
A Maiduguri Specialist Hospital nurse and security guard observed “at least 20 other bodies,” including “children and women.” The nurse said that many victims received treatment in the maternity ward because the hospital ran out of rooms. At least 60 received “wounds from bullets and shrapnel from explosive devices.”
The military claimed they “intercepted and destroyed” at least ten of the suicide bombers.
On Monday morning, a female suicide bomber attacked a mosque as she waited to pass through security to enter the building.
“People were being scanned before they were allowed to pass, and she went into the middle of the gathering. She killed one person and injured six or seven. … We cannot see the lower part of her body – the bomb must have completely destroyed the lower part of her body,” explained resident Ushari Bulabulin.
In August, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari demanded his military destroy Boko Haram in three months. Boko Haram has been terrorizing Nigeria since 2009, killing over 20,000 and spreading into Cameroon, Niger, and Chad. The attacks have displaced over 1.5 million people.
On Christmas Eve, Buhari asserted the military met its deadline and had won the war against Boko Haram, since the terrorist group could no longer launch massive attacks.
“I think, technically, we have won the war,” he said. “Boko Haram is an organized fighting force, I assure you, [but] we have dealt with them.”
Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed agreed with his President.
“Today, I can report that the war against Boko Haram is largely won,” he announced. “I can confidently say this because just recently, I led a group of 33 journalists from both the local and international media to the hot bed of the insurgency, that is, Maiduguri, Kondugua, Kaoure and Bama.”
Boko Haram killed at least 14 people on Christmas Day in the Kimba village. The terrorists opened fire on the residents as they set fire to the homes. Civilian Mustapha Karimbe told AFP the militants burned down the whole village.