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Multiple explosions staged by suspected suicide bombers struck the northeastern city of Maiduguri in Borno State on Monday evening, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 100 others, police said.
The blasts occurred at the Maiduguri Monday Market, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) gate, and Post Office Flyover area, according to authorities.
The state police spokesman, Nahum Kenneth Daso, said preliminary investigations indicated the attacks were carried out by suspected suicide bombers.
“Preliminary investigation reveals that the incidents were carried out by suspected suicide bombers,” Daso said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Regrettably, a total of twenty-three (23) persons lost their lives, while one hundred and eight (108) others sustained varying degrees of injuries.”
Earlier, suspected jihadists launched an attack on a Nigerian military post on the outskirts of Maiduguri, a key northeastern city that had not seen such violence in years. (Photo by AFP)
However, an anti-jihadist militia member told AFP the death toll could be higher, estimating as many as 31 fatalities.
An AFP reporter at a hospital in the city on Monday evening saw dozens of injured people receiving treatment, while several bodies covered with sheets lay outside the facility.
A survivor of the market explosion, 31-year-old Mala Mohammed, said he at first heard two blasts before people began running in panic.
“At that moment, we were not sure what had happened. But after about two or three minutes, other people who were running along the road started shouting that it was a bomb at the market entrance,” Mohammed said.
“Many of them ran toward the Post Office area because the market entrance and the Post Office are not far apart.
“Unfortunately, as they were running towards Post Office, the person who had the explosive device ran into the crowd while people were still trying to escape.”
According to the police, “normalcy has been fully restored in the affected areas” and “joint security operatives have heightened security presence and surveillance across Maiduguri and its environs to prevent any further occurrences.”
BORNO STATE POLICE COMMAND
PRESS RELEASERE: TRIPLE IED EXPLOSION IN MAIDUGURI, NORMALCY RESTORED, SECURITY HEIGHTENED
Following the devastating suspected suicide IED explosions that occurred at about 1924HRS on 16th March, 2026, at (1.) Maiduguri Monday Market, (2.)… pic.twitter.com/YWDSjGppQd
— Daso (@nk_daso) March 17, 2026
The bombings came hours after suspected terrorists attacked a military post in Ajilari Cross, a southwestern suburb of the city near Maiduguri airport, around midnight on Sunday.
Another attempted attack was also reported in the Damboa Local Government Area, south of Maiduguri.
Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum called the apparent bombings “barbaric” and said “the recent surge in attacks is not unconnected with intense military operations in the Sambisa forest,” a known stronghold of Boko Haram fighters.
