Eyewitnesses have revealed how an early morning explosion on Friday no killed no fewer than 23 people in a mosque behind Federal High court in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

According to residents of Jiddari Polo in the troubled state capital, one of the suspected attackers was gunned down by soldiers while attempting to plant another bomb.

The incident which occurred at about 5:15 am local time during the early morning prayers also killed a popular meat Seller, identified as Ahmadu Gwoza.

Malam Sallah Tukur, a member of the civilian JTF, told said they have identified the corpse of one the suspected Boko Haram members who was gunned down by soldiers, saying the deceased suspect had been around the mosque since Thursday afternoon.

“23 people were killed in the blast this morning. We have taken the corpses to the state specialists hospital and some to the University of Maiduguri Teaching hospital”, the civilian JTF member said.

According to Daily Post report, many residents of Maiduguri are worried following the continuous attacks on mosques, calling on government to do something fast to bring the insurgency to an end.

Ibrahim Garba a resident of Polo said, ” So far to my knowledge, 15 mosques have been attack between August and October in Maiduguri, and there is none with less than 20 deaths. This is worrisome.”

He said, Muslims are now afraid to go and pray in mosques due to the attacks, saying, ” I no longer pray in the mosque because of fear. Many Muslims do not go to mosques to pray and I advise my children not to go to the mosque to pray because you do not known how these people get to mosques to plant bombs.”