By Musdafa Ilo, Maiduguri

Boko Haram insurgents have continued to cause havoc in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, despite the military’s reported successes. There were gunshots and bomb blasts on Monday night, keeping residents awake for most of the night. And  on Tuesday, in broad daylight, a bomb went off at a busy cattle market in the heart of the town, leaving no fewer than 17 people dead and scores injured.

The bomb blast followed a siege on Maiduguri by the sect in the early hours of Tuesday in one of a series of attacks since President Muhammadu Buhari took office and vowed to uproot the group.

“We’re trying to sift human bodies from carcasses of cattle that are strewn all over the place,” a member of the Civilian JTF, the youth vigilante helping the military in the fight against insurgency, said, adding that the attack was well coordinated.

Spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Northeast zone, AbdulKadir Ibrahim, confirmed that as many as 17 persons were killed and many injured.

“Our men working to evacuate the dead corpses have revealed that not less than 17 persons were killed in the explosion,” Ibrahim said.

Boko Haram’s renewed offensive has coincided with President Buhari’s coming to power.

Just hours before Friday’s inauguration, there was a bomb blast at a wedding in a village in Borno State and 24 hours later, there was another attack in a mosque that left 26 people dead.

This will no doubt test the President’s mettle as he seeks to deal with a problem that his predecessor struggled to contain for over four years.

The President has said the military’s command and control centre in charge of the insurgency will be relocated from the nation’s capital to Borno State until the group is crushed, but the new-found boldness of the insurgents will no doubt pose some concern.

On Monday, Buhari met with service chiefs and is scheduled to meet with the leaders of Chad and Niger, two of the three countries taking part in the fight against the insurgents.