Fresh details have emerged about the March 16 coordinated bombings in Maiduguri, Borno State, revealing how three teenage suspected suicide bombers disguised explosives inside a food flask and attempted to pass themselves off as relatives visiting patients at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital — a plan that was foiled by an alert security officer at the entrance gate.
The attacks struck three crowded locations at approximately 7:05 p.m. — the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital entrance, the Post Office area, and Monday Market — at the height of the Ramadan evening rush. At least 23 people were killed, and 108 others were confirmed injured.
How the hospital attack unfolded
A security officer at the hospital, Ali Musa, said the three suspects arrived at the facility in a commercial tricycle, posing as relatives bringing food to patients. Musa said he had already tightened security at his post after receiving word of the earlier blast at the post office, and immediately noticed something was wrong when the suspects drove in at high speed rather than slowing down for the standard security check.
“They were three in number — two boys and one rider of the tricycle. I think they were around 13 or 14 years old. They looked very unkempt. I suspected something was wrong with the way they drove in,” Musa said.
When Musa ordered them to reverse, one of the suspects threw the food flask containing the concealed explosive device directly at him. Musa kicked the flask back toward them — and the device detonated. “I heard a loud explosion and immediately lay flat on the ground,” he said. A second explosion followed shortly afterwards near the hospital entrance.
Musa sustained injuries in the blast and found his female colleague on the ground with a broken leg when he went to check on her. He also saw a young Almajiri boy lying nearby on the ground. A shop owner near the hospital entrance, speaking anonymously, confirmed the attackers’ intent. “They wanted to blow up parts of the hospital,” she said.
The Monday Market blast
Investigations revealed that the Monday Market explosion was likely carried out by a separate attacker wearing an explosive vest. An eyewitness, simply identified as Fati, who works near the market, said the night was unlike anything she had experienced. “I later heard that they found a boy whose body was completely destroyed. The impact on that boy was worse than on others, so they suspected he was the bomb carrier,” she said.
Government response
President Tinubu directed service chiefs to relocate to Borno State following the attacks. The Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, arrived in Maiduguri on the morning of Wednesday, March 18, to coordinate security operations on the ground.
Background
Maiduguri is the birthplace of Boko Haram and has been at the centre of Nigeria’s insurgency for over 17 years. The city had experienced relative calm since 2021 before a mosque bombing in December 2025 killed five people and raised early concerns about renewed attacks. The March 16 bombings are the deadliest to hit the city in several years. No group has formally claimed responsibility, though the Nigerian Armed Forces have attributed the attacks to Boko Haram-affiliated elements.