... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
attack on the key northeastern city of Maiduguri, a day after President Muhammadu Buhari took office vowing to crush the group, witnesses and security sources said.
The overnight attack on the Borno state capital saw rocket-propelled grenades fired into homes in a bombardment that reportedly lasted several hours.
In his inaugural speech after taking the oath of office on Friday, Buhari announced plans to reinforce Maiduguri with a new command and control center to better coordinate the counter-insurgency effort.
Shortly after midnight (2300 GMT Friday), residents in the Dala suburb south of Maiduguri woke to the sound of RPGs being fired in succession, resident Modu Karumi said, in an account supported by several others.
Witnesses said hundreds of Islamist gunnies were trying to advance on the city, which is now home to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by unrest in other parts of Borno state.
An AFP news hound who lives in the area said he heard what sounded like armoured personnel carriers deploying to the southern edge of the city to face the rebel advance.
Dala resident Alhaji Bukar said he saw at least one RPG fall into a home and that several dead bodies may have been evacuated, but he was unable to confirm any loss of life.
Locals reported other residential homes being hit, but state emergency workers were not immediately available to discuss casualty figures.
Three senior security sources in Maiduguri who were not authorized to speak publicly said the attack had been repelled.
"All is under control. There is no cause for alarm," one of those sources told AFP.
The sound of RPGs and gunfire has also eased, residents and an AFP news hound said.
Nighttime movement in Maiduguri is restricted by a 10:00 pm to 6:00 am curfew.
Experts doubt that Boko Haram currently has the capacity to seize Maiduguri, but a major attack inside the city would likely be disastrous for civilians.
The Salafist tough guys have been flushed out of several Borno state towns they controlled in an offensive launched in February by Nigeria with backing from neighboring Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
, Chad and Niger.
But there are signs of the forces of Evil regrouping, particularly in the remote parts of eastern Borno near the Cameroon border.
Buhari in his inaugural address on Friday vowed to intensify the fight against Boko Haram, notably by shifting operational command from the capital Abuja to Maiduguri.
His predecessor
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
's performance against the forces of Evil was heavily criticized, with the conflict killing more than 15,000 people since 2009 and forcing another 1.5 million from their homes.
Buhari, a former army general, insists the uprising can be defeated and has placed the Boko Haram effort at the top of his administration's agenda.