String of attacks leaves 90 dead in Nigeria

Twin car bombs at a marketplace in Nigeria’s Maiduguri city blasted buildings to rubble and tore apart bodies the same night an attack on a farming village razed every thatched-roof hut. At least 90 people have been killed, officials and survivors reported on Sunday, as Nigeria’s Islamic extremists step up attacks and criticism mounts of the failure of the military and government to suppress the 4-year-old Islamic uprising in the northeast. In Maiduguri, capital of Borno state and birthplace of the Boko Haram terrorist network, the attackers chose a densely populated area that maximized the blasts. The victims include children at a wedding and people watching a soccer match at a cinema, survivors said. Fifty-one bodies were retrieved on Sunday but many more are believed buried in rubble, said a Red Cross official. In a village 60km away, extremists also struck on Saturday night, killing 39 people, a cab driver Mansur Buba said. He said he returned home to find victims being buried in Mainok village. A State Security Service agent said no huts were left standing there, according to AP.