Boko Haram launches fresh attacks on the Northeast.

Boko Haram militants on Tuesday launched a renewed attack on Maiduguri in

northeast Nigeria, just days after the military repelled an assault on the key
city.

Residents said the Islamists arrived in the Moronti area of the city by river
but were unable to advance further because of wide ditches and
embankments dug by soldiers around the city limits.

They then began shelling Ajillari Cross, about three kilometres (two miles)
away at about 12:45 am (2345 GMT Monday). There was no immediate word
on damage or casualties.


“We were bombarded by RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) by Boko Haram
from Moronti,” Isa Mala, who lives in Ajillari Cross, told AFP by telephone.
“We all left our homes for fear of being hit inside. It was dark so we could
see the trajectory of the RPGs, which were red with heat.

“Soon afterwards, we saw troops in trucks moving towards Moronti and then
a fighter jet also deployed not long afterwards.”

Kyari Bulunkutu, who lives near Mala, gave the same account and added: “At
about two in the morning it was all over but I haven’t been able to see
whether there was any damage or casualties.”

Boko Haram launched a similar attack nearby early on Saturday, just hours
after Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as Nigeria’s new president and called
the group “godless” and “mindless”.

Buhari has pledged to move the military’s counter-insurgency command
centre to Maiduguri, which is the capital of Borno state and has suffered the
worst violence in the six-year insurgency.