The death toll from two blasts in northeast Nigeria rose to 35 on Friday,
\nraising the total number killed in suspected Boko Haram attacks to 82
\nduring President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s first week in office.<\/p>\n
Rescue officials in the Adamawa state\u2019s capital Yola said 31 people had
\nbeen confirmed dead in the explosion that ripped through a market on
\nThursday, with another 38 wounded.<\/p>\n
The Yola blast followed a suspected suicide bombing in Maiduguri, capital
\nof neighbouring Borno state, that killed at least four people when a truck
\ncarrying firewood rammed into a checkpoint outside a military barracks.<\/p>\n
The violence on Thursday came as Buhari ended his first foreign trip since
\ntaking office. He visited Chad and Niger, which with Cameroon are
\nNigeria\u2019s key allies in the battle against an Islamist uprising blamed for
\n15,000 deaths since 2009.<\/p>\n
Buhari urged closer regional security cooperation, thanking troops from
\nNigeria\u2019s neighbours for their efforts to date while demanding more action
\nfrom a multi-national force battling the insurgents on the frontline.<\/p>\n
He vowed to crush the Islamists when he was sworn in one week ago but the
\nspate of bombings through his first week in office highlighted the
\nseverity of the challenge.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram has been weakened by a four-nation offensive launched in
\nFebruary but the extremists have proved resilient in the past. A new video
\nreleased by the group \u2014 its first for several months and first under the
\nbanner of the \u201cIslamic State in West Africa\u201d \u2014 insisted the rebels were
\nstill to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Toll rises \u2013<\/p>\n
Yola had been seen as a relative safe haven in Nigeria\u2019s embattled
\nnortheast, with no confirmed Islamist attacks in several years. The fresh
\nexplosion hit the popular Jimeta Main Market at about 7:40 pm (1840 GMT),
\nas traders were finishing business.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, we have 31 dead victims and 38 people in hospital receiving
\ntreatment\u201d, the National Emergency Management Agency\u2019s coordinator in the
\ncity Sa\u2019ad Bello told AFP.<\/p>\n
An inital toll from the Adamawa state police said two people were killed.
\nThere was no immediate claim of responsibility but the blast bore the
\nhallmarks of Boko Haram who have frequently targeted crowded markets.<\/p>\n
The Maiduguri explosion outside the Maimalari Barracks at about 5:00 pm
\nkilled four people and also resembled past strikes by the insurgents, who
\nhave made suicide attacks the military a key feature of their uprising.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Regional cooperation \u2013<\/p>\n
Buhari was on Thursday in Chad\u2019s capital, N\u2019Djamena, for talks with his
\ncounterpart Idriss Deby after visiting Niger on Wednesday. \u201cYour troops
\nhave stood shoulder to shoulder and fought gallantly with ours in the
\nfight against the forces of evil,\u201d the 72-year-old former military ruler
\ntold Deby.<\/p>\n
Deby for his part \u201creaffirmed Chad\u2019s involvement and availability\u201d to work
\nwith Nigeria, according to a statement from his office. Anglophone Nigeria
\nhas typically viewed its Francophone neighbours with suspicion, which has
\nbeen blamed for the lack of a joined-up approach in tackling the
\nmilitants.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the military in Abuja announced that a Nigerian officer had
\ntaken charge of the new African Union-backed Multi-National Joint Task
\nForce based in N\u2019Djamena.<\/p>\n
The 8,700-strong unit, made up of military personnel, police and civilians
\nfrom Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, had been due to be deployed last
\nNovember. Buhari said \u201csustained and robust\u201d regional cooperation was
\nessential because of the cross-border threat posed by Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Deadly week \u2013<\/p>\n
Buhari has ordered the military\u2019s command centre be moved from the
\ncapital, Abuja, to Maiduguri, where Boko Haram was founded in 2002 and
\nwhich is regarded as its spiritual home.<\/p>\n
The army has since been tested with two rocket attacks on the city, as
\nwell as an explosion opposite a military facility on Wednesday, which left
\nat least 18 dead. There were also two suicide bomb attacks \u2014 one at a
\nmosque on Saturday that killed 26 and another on Tuesday at a cattle
\nmarket, in which 13 people died.<\/p>\n
While Maiduguri residents have come to expect relentless bombings, a surge
\nof violence in Yola will create new challenges for Buhari as he strives to
\npacify the northeast. The city has been home to hundreds of thousands of
\npeople displaced by fighting elsewhere in the region.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of women and children kidnapped by Boko Haram have also been
\nbrought to camps in the city after they were rescued during recent
\nmilitary operations in the rebels\u2019 Sambisa Forest stronghold in Borno.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The death toll from two blasts in northeast Nigeria rose to 35 on Friday, raising the total number killed in suspected Boko Haram attacks to 82 during President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n