At least 90 people were killed in attacks blamed on Boko Haram militants this weekend, taking the overall death toll this year beyond 300, with no apparent end in sight to the carnage.

Nearly 250 people had lost their lives this year, even before the latest attacks, in which twin blasts ripped through Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, and heavily armed gunmen opened fire on a nearby village.

The attacks could renew fears that Nigeria is struggling to contain the Islamist insurgency and the perception that militant fighters are able to roam the northeast and attack at will.

At least 51 people were killed in Maiduguri's crowded Gomari district, many of them food vendors and children hawking goods, as locals prepared for evening prayers on Saturday.

"We are still counting. Our men are still working with rescue workers at the scene," Borno state police commissioner Lawal Tanko said.

Less than an hour later, gunmen dressed in military fatigues and armed with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and explosives laid siege to the village of Mainok, 50 kilometers away, killing 39.

In a separate incident, there were claims that 20 people were mistakenly killed in the village of Daglun, in Borno, during a bombardment of suspected militants by air force jets, although the military denied the claim.

The Nigerian government had no comment and has maintained that it is successfully tackling the violence.

French President Francois Hollande condemned the attacks "with the greatest possible rigor".

Hollande visited Abuja last week and told his counterpart Goodluck Jonathan that Nigeria had France's full support.

Borno and two other northeastern states, Yobe and Adamawa, have been under emergency rule earlier since May and an increased military presence had pushed Boko Haram out of towns and cities into more remote rural areas.

Saturday's blast in Maiduguri came after at least 43 people, most of them students, were killed as they slept when suspected Boko Haram gunmen burst into their secondary school dormitory.

At least 32 were killed in coordinated attacks in three separate locations, including at a Christian theological college, on Wednesday in Adamawa state.

Borno Governor Kashim Shettima claimed last month that the Nigerian military was outgunned by Boko Haram after an attack on a mostly Christian village on Feb 15 left 106 people dead.

The attacks have also attracted concern from foreign governments and the United Nations, in particular because most of the victims were civilians and schoolchildren.

There are increasing worries of a humanitarian crisis, as people in the three states flee their homes.

The UN said on Thursday that 290,000 people had been internally displaced in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe between May and Jan 1.

The Nigerian military said on Sunday evening that it had killed a number of Boko Haram fighters, including those thought responsible for last week's school attack in Yobe.

Defense ministry spokesman Chris Olukolade said an unspecified number of people had been arrested on suspicion of detonating Saturday's bombs in Maiduguri.

But he said the claims that civilians were killed in air operations against Boko Haram in Borno were untrue.

AFP-AP

(China Daily 03/04/2014 page11)