Residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital scampered for safety as suspected Boko Haram insurgents Wednesday launched a major attack in what can be described as the sect’s most serious assault in recent time.

The insurgents, numbering over 300 had stormed the Jiddari Polo area of Alidawari in a bid to take control of the state capital, shooting sporadically and detonating several Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). This led to the death of at least six people.

Witnesses said they heard explosions and heavy gunfire as men of the Nigerian Army engaged the insurgents in a serious gun battle, prompting civilians to flee from the area.

Reports say as men of the Nigerian Armed Forces were engaged in repelling the attackers, another separate group stormed the Maiduguri-Gamboru axis around 9 p.m. detonating explosives which they had strapped to themselves in mosques where Muslim faithfuls were congregated to observe the Ramadan night prayers, killing many and injuring several others.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has in a statement it released Wednesday, called for calm in the Maiduguri metropolis after the shootings in the outskirts of the city, particularly around Damboa Road, old GRA.

“The situation is under control. The public is requested to not panic but to stay calm,” Lt-Col. Kingsley Samuel, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations Department said in the statement.

The raid comes some six months after the President Muhammadu Buhari  administration claimed Boko Haram had been “technically” defeated .