There was panic in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital and its environs this morning when residents started hearing sounds of sporadic gunshots as the Nigerian military test-run its equipment, Daily Trust reports.
Sources in Maiduguri said most residents became jittery with the sound of multiple explosions.
A top military officer however confirmed that the military was only testing their equipment.
“There is nothing to fear, what you heard were friendly sounds from our equipment,” he said.
According to the report, a first heavy sound was heard around 7.20am, making many to believe Boko Haram insurgents were at it again. But it became rampant few minutes later with about 13 others following intermittently.
The report quoted a resident of Maiduguri, Khadija Mukhtar as saying she retreated into her house after hearing a loud bang.
“I was about going out of my house when I heard the first deafening sound…this was followed by several others that made me to believe they were bomb explosions orchestrated by the Boko Haram,” she said.
“I put a call to a friend of my husband who is an officer in the army. He was the one who told me that there was no incursion into Maiduguri,” she said.
Most residents were said to have remained indoors and those who stay in places considered not to be very safe had to move to other places seen as safer.
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