Nigeria’s army has contained an attack by suspected Boko Haram fighters on the northeastern city of Maiduguri on Wednesday, it said, after militants launched the largest assault on the regional capital in a year and a half.
“The situation in Maiduguri is under control,” the military said in a statement. “The general public is requested not to panic and stay calm.”
Loud bangs, explosions and gunfire were heard on the southeastern and southwestern outskirts of the city, the epicentre of the eight-year fight against Boko Haram.
Boko Haram launches major attack on Maiduguri
Reuters witnesses said hundreds of civilians had fled the area.
Maiduguri in Borno state has been the epicentre of the eight-year fight against Boko Haram but has been relatively free of violence since the beginning of 2016, barring sporadic suicide bombs on its outskirts.
Fighter jets roared overhead as soldiers and police sped towards the scene, the Reuters witnesses said. Three children were hit by bullets, one witness said.
More than 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram’s campaign to establish a mediaeval caliphate in the Lake Chad basin. A further 2.7 million have been displaced, creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian emergencies.
Despite the military’s success in liberating cities and towns, much of Borno remains off-limits, hampering efforts to deliver food aid to nearly 1.5 million people believed to be on the brink of famine.
