Explosions Shake Area Near Air Force Base Used By Nigerian President, Five People Killed

JAKARTA - At least five people were killed and more than a dozen injured on Thursday after multiple explosions near an air force base in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari's visit, residents and hospital sources said.

Maiduguri is the capital of the northeastern state of Borno, the epicenter of a 12-year Islamic insurgency. The town and surrounding area are regularly attacked by militants.

Four people died in the Gomari Ayafe area of Maiduguri, a few hundred meters from the air force base, residents said. President Buhari landed at the base less than an hour after explosions were heard in the neighborhood near the base.

A Reuters witness saw two bodies, including a child and several injured people being taken to hospital in an open truck. Three houses were badly damaged and residents suspected Islamist militants.

"We have received four dead and 15 others injured which we have recorded," a doctor at Umaru Shehu Hospital, where the victims are being treated, told Reuters as quoted on December 24.

Hussaini Garba, a resident of Ajilari Cross, another Maiduguri neighborhood, a few kilometers from the air base said he had just left his house for work when he heard a loud bang. He rushed home only to find his house badly damaged and his 18-year-old daughter lying dead.

"My house and my neighbor's were both destroyed, there's nothing left in the house," said Garba.

The military and the presidency declined to comment. President Buhari did not comment on the explosion during his visit to Maiduguri to commission several projects, including the expressway.

However, he told troops at the air base his government is working to defeat all enemies, restore an economically viable geo-political zone to the northeast and other parts of the country, where Nigerians are free to carry out their activities without fear or harassment.

To note, Nigeria is gripped by persistent insecurity, including insurgency in the northeast and bandits and kidnappings in the north and northwest.