Two men in a sedan attempted to throw a bomb at soldiers stationed at a military post in the West‑End area of Maiduguri. The device detonated prematurely, killing the would‑be bomber. His accomplice fled, abandoning the car. Immediately after the blast, soldiers reportedly exchanged fire with unidentified gunmen and then stormed through the surrounding residential neighbourhood, allegedly shooting indiscriminately and setting homes on fire.
13 Dec 2011 · West‑End district / London Ciki ward, Maiduguri, Borno
Deaths
10
Injured
30
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
40
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
The Joint Task Force (JTF) cordoned off the area and conducted a door‑to‑door search. A military spokesman denied that soldiers had shot or burned homes, while residents and a hospital source gave contradictory accounts of widespread destruction and civilian casualties.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
The attack was a deliberate act of insurgent warfare against a symbol of state security (a military post). Boko Haram sought to degrade the JTF‘s ability to control the city, demoralise troops, and terrify the civilian population. The subsequent shooting and burning of homes – whether carried out by soldiers or by the insurgents – deepened the breakdown of trust between residents and the security forces, a dynamic that had already been building since the 2009 uprising.
Trajectory
The attack was a reminder that the insurgency could strike even the most fortified areas of Maiduguri, and it came less than two weeks before the 25 December 2011 Christmas Day church bombings (40+ killed). The incident also contributed to the escalation of security force abuses, which would be documented by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in the following year.
Cycle notes
The West‑End incident echoed the 2009 pattern of Boko Haram attacking a police/military post, followed by a heavy‑handed state response that resulted in civilian casualties. The official denial of wrongdoing by the military (no shots fired, no homes burned) mirrored the state‘s responses to similar allegations after the 2009 Boko Haram uprising and the 2010 Jos massacres. The allegations of soldiers shooting indiscriminately and burning homes also prefigured documented abuses during the 2012‑2013 military operations in Borno State.
Pattern
IED attack on military checkpoint
Related — Bombing/IED
Five female suicide bombers staged a coordinated attack on Kofa village. The first bomber detonated her explosives near a mosque where worshippers were gathered for night prayers, killing seven people. The second bomber detonated in a house, killing five people. The remaining three bombers detonated within the same vicinity, killing only themselves.
A bomb exploded at the weekly market in Sabon Gari during peak trading hours. The device was concealed in a knapsack used for spraying herbicides and was abandoned in the mobile phone section of the market, near the livestock section . A female suicide bomber was responsible for the attack according to Al Jazeera and vigilante sources . The explosion killed at least 47 people instantly and wounded approximately 50 others, many with severe injuries. Following the blast, vigilantes and volunteers evacuated victims while soldiers were deployed and the market was closed .
A teenage female suicide bomber detonated explosives at a crowded bus station. The bomber managed to pass through security checks at the entrance and walked into a crowd before detonating her device. Witnesses described the scene as littered with dismembered and mutilated bodies. Most victims were children who had been selling peanuts or begging at the station. An angry mob reportedly prevented emergency workers from retrieving the bomber's remains and set them on fire