Home Africa Nigeria: Blast In Cafe kills 16 In Boko Haram Infested Borno State

Nigeria: Blast In Cafe kills 16 In Boko Haram Infested Borno State

Nigeria faces a series of security challenges including a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, separatist violence in the southeast, rampant oil theft in the Niger Delta and kidnapping for ransom by criminal gangs.
Edited By
Ramananda Sengupta
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Nigeria cafe blast kills 16
A file photo of a camp for Internally Displaced People at Maiduguri in Kenya’s Borno State, where the Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist outfit, operates with impunity.

MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA: Sixteen people were killed in Nigeria on Wednesday when a bomb blew up a village cafe in Borno state, hotbed of the Boko Haram militant insurgency, police said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which also injured several people.

Police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said on Thursday the government had imposed a 24-hour curfew following the attack, which came barely a week after a landmine explosion on a highway in Borno state killed seven soldiers.

Local resident Kachallah Goni told Reuters he heard a loud explosion at around 1930 GMT on Wednesday at a popular cafe in Kawuri village, a few kilometers from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Mustapha Modu, a local vigilante, said he recovered at least 20 bodies from the cafe.

Nigeria faces a series of security challenges including a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, separatist violence in the southeast, rampant oil theft in the Niger Delta and kidnapping for ransom by criminal gangs.

On Thursday, thousands protested in cities across Nigeria against widespread insecurity, the rising cost of living, and governance issues.

Lat month, defence spokesperson Major General Edward Buba warned that the military will intervene to prevent any violence at protests by citizens planned for August against bad governance and economic hardship.

Buba said Nigerians had a right to protest peacefully but the demonstrations being planned from August 1 could turn violent as they were inspired by events in Kenya, where young people took to the streets and forced their government to scrap $2.7 billion in tax hikes.
(REUTERS)

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Ramananda Sengupta
In a career spanning over three decades and counting, I’ve been the Foreign Editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and The New Indian Express. I helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.

My work has featured in national and international publications like the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Global Times and The Asahi Shimbun. My one constant over all these years, however, has been the attempt to understand rising India’s place in the world.

On demand, I can rustle up a mean salad, my oil-less pepper chicken is to die for, and depending on the time of the day, all it takes to rock my soul is some beer and some jazz or good ole rhythm & blues.

Talk to me about foreign and strategic affairs, media, South Asia, China, and of course India.
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