Nigerian city gripped by fear after Islamist attacks

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Fear pervades the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri where hundreds of troops have been deployed after a wave of bombings and shootings by the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram.A week after at least 25 people died and dozens were injured in a single attack, the beer garden where it took place stands scorched and empty, strewn with blackened debris. A few goats attracted by heaps of corn grain are the only sign of life.Scores of military checkpoints have sprung up around the city."The city has been under siege from Boko Haram and the military following these senseless attacks that have put everybody on edge," said resident Hadi Sadiq.The attack, in which Islamists hurled explosives and fired indiscriminately, came on the day a joint military task force was launched to combat a spate of earlier bomb and shoot-and-run assaults.The initiative saw hundreds of military, navy, air force, police, immigration and customs personnel deployed to quash the sect on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan.Boko Haram launched a short-lived armed uprising two years ago in a doomed bid to establish an Islamic state.Although the rebellion was crushed in a military assault that killed hundreds, mostly sect members, it failed to deter further attacks."What is more frightening to residents of this city is the bomb attacks that continue to increase in frequency, magnitude and sophistication despite the deployment of troops," said Khalifa Dikwa, a linguistics professor at Maiduguri University.Last year, the sect began to launch shoot-and-run killings, targeting police and military personnel, community and religious leaders as well as politicians. It also added to its guerrilla tactics, bomb attacks on police and government facilities, as well as churches."Nowhere is safe in Maiduguri even with the military presence," Jummai Musa, a beer seller, said. A checkpoint erected 500 metres from the beer garden was like "medicine after death", she added.A day after the beer garden attack, suspected sect members

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