Seven dead, 17 injured as Boko Haram hitsMaiduguri again

The city of Maiduguri came under attack again on Tuesday, just
days after Boko Haram bombings killed 58 people, as the
government dismissed the militants’ link to the Islamic State
group.

Twin blasts ripped through the northeastern city’s crowded
Monday Market, which has been repeatedly hit by suicide
bombers, including on Saturday, as well as a nearby street.
Seven people were killed  in the suspected suicide bomb attack,
police said.
“Seven persons died while 17 others were injured. The rescue is
still ongoing,” Borno state police commissioner Clement Adoda
told reporters.
Adoda referred to only one blast after initial reports of two
explosions at the city’s Monday Market and in a nearby street.
The latest attacks came after the government in Abuja described
the militants’ pledge of allegiance to IS as a sign of weakness in
the face of growing military pressure from Nigeria and its allies.
National security spokesman Mike Omeri called it “an act of
desperation and comes at a time when Boko Haram is suffering
heavy losses”.
He added: “Boko Haram is on the way to being eliminated.
“No foreign extremists can or will change this fact –- as long as
the Nigerian military continues to receive cooperation and
commitment from its citizens and allies.
“There will be no Islamic State in Nigeria, the only state that will
exist is the united Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
– Coalition gains –
Omeri’s tough talk come as Boko Haram is being squeezed out of
captured territory in three northeastern states of Nigeria by a
regional coalition of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
The armies have claimed a series of successes in recent weeks,
with the operation designed to secure and stabilise the northeast
so that elections can take place on March 28.
The Nigerian army said on Tuesday it had foiled a Boko Haram
attack on the town of Gombi, in Adamawa state, on Monday
evening, seizing heavy weaponry and ammunition.
That followed a Chadian and Nigerien offensive on Monday to
retake the Borno state town of Damasak, which fell into rebel
hands last November.
Security analysts have said Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau’s
pledge of allegiance to his IS group counterpart Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi may only have propaganda value in the short term.
But they did not rule out possible closer links in the future.
The bomb attacks in Maiduguri — and a spate of others across
the wider north — have underscored the fragile security in the
run-up to the elections, which Shekau has vowed to disrupt.
– Humanitarian crisis –
The Boko Haram conflict, which began in 2009, has claimed more
than 13,000 lives and left some 1.5 million homeless, with
refugees spread across Nigeria and neighbouring countries.
On Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross
warned of an increasingly dire situation for the displaced in the
strategic Lake Chad region, where Nigeria meets Niger, Chad and
Cameroon.
“There is a full-blown humanitarian crisis around this lake, not
only in Nigeria, but also in the surrounding countries,” ICRC
spokesman Jean-Yves Clemenzo told reporters in Geneva.
The organisation said it had stepped up its efforts in the region,
providing food, household items, sanitary facilities and assistance
to help cope with the influx of casualties.
But the head of the ICRC delegation in Nigeria, Karl Mattli, said:
“It’s not enough. More has to be done.”
The vast numbers of displaced people — many of whom have
flocked to Maiduguri — has been a nagging question in the run-
up to the vote, at which President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking
re-election.
The region is a main opposition stronghold but with many voters
unable to return home to cast their ballots, the validity of the
overall result may be questioned if they are disenfranchised.
Nigeria’s electoral commission is scrambling for a solution to the
issue, including temporary voter ID cards.