Zulum asks military to be vigilant as explosions rock Borno estate

Residents of 1,000 Housing Estate in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, woke up Saturday morning to an explosion suspected to have been caused by Boko Haram terrorists or the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) in which at least one person was injured and two houses damaged.

Malam Kullima, whose house was damaged by the explosion, said the weapon landed behind the building before it exploded and shattered the walls and that an object from the blast injured a man.

A rocket launcher also landed at Gomari, a community about four kilometres from the Maiduguri airport.

In a video seen by Daily Trust, residents of the estate are seen discussing the incident in groups.

Similar incident occurred early this year when shells fired by insurgents exploded in some areas of the metropolis and killed  some children.

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Following the explosions, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum who visited the scenes Saturday promised to set up “a small committee” to assess damages and advise government on measures to avert future occurrence.

Zulum, who had been praising the military in the last one year, was unhappy with the attacks, as well as recent abductions.

He described the Saturday attacks as worrisome and called on the military to wake up from instances of laxity.

“It is very sad and unfortunate that this kind of attack and others are happening at this time. It seems the insurgents came very close to Maiduguri. Our military have to wake up and ensure adequate surveillance. This is something we should be able to avert. For the insurgents to have come so close to fire rockets, I think there is something wrong that we have to check.

“We have to fortify Maiduguri, as we will continue to do around other cities and towns across the state. We have to ensure adequate patrols on daily basis to avert future attacks,” he said.

Daily Trust