Boko Haram rocket factory

Richard Elesho

No less than 13 persons lost their lives and more than 40 others sustained various degrees of injury in a rocket attack on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital on Tuesday by Boko Haram insurgents on Tuesday evening.

Fear stricken residents of the city scampered in all directions in the commotion that accompanied the multiple attacks. The Northeast Nigerian State of Borno has been the epicenter of anarchy and war being waged by the Boko Haram terrorist group.

This Day newspaper reports that on Tuesday night, a team of security, military, Civilian JTF and humanitarian workers  combed the town for corpses even as the injured were assisted to the hospital.

Initial casualty figure showed that 13 corpses were recovered even as over 40 persons were reportedly injured

The major casualties were recorded at a football pitch in Gwange, near the House of Late General Mamman Shuwa, who was one of the earlier casualties of insurgency in the state.

At the football pitch, nine boys who were playing football early evening were killed by the shot rocket.

Many others were injured at the football pitch by the rockets, which many said were ten in number fired simultaneously.

Other parts of the town was not spared the rocket launch believed to have been shot to destabilise the town, paving way for a massive attack by the insurgents.

At Adam Kolo part of the town, the rocket killed four persons and got many others injured.

Multiple sources said four persons were killed in the explosion in the area, which also resulted in injuries suffered by many others.

President Muhammadu Buhari had recently appointed new service chiefs to tame the hydra-headed security problems confronting the nation.