Two suicide bombers set off explosives at a crowded marketplace in northeastern Nigeria, killing as many as 78 shoppers and merchants, including some whom witnesses said were decapitated by the blasts.  Suspicions immediately fell on the Boko Haram Islamist separatist group.

This happened at the Monday Market in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State – where Boko Haram has been trying to establish a caliphate based on its whacked interpretation of Islamic sharia law.  The same market was ravaged by a car bombing in July.

“It is a serious crime against humanity being perpetrated by few extremists under the guise of religion,” said Borno Governor Kashim Shettima.

The bombers are believed to have been teenage girls, both dressed in full hijab as the mingled with the crowd in the marketplace.  The first blew herself up, killing about 30 people.  As others gathered to help victims, the second girl screamed and detonated herself, according to witnesses. 

That Boko Haram was able to pull off yet another atrocity in Nigeria isn’t terribly surprising.  Every week there are new accounts of slaughter and mayhem, with civilians almost always the targets.  Nigeria’s military has made claims of advances against Boko Haram, but those are usually debunked within days.  So, if Nigerian authorities are unable or unwilling to take on a bloodthirsty insurgency, exactly what is it doing?

Protecting its rear, of course.  Nigeria’s opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) party is condemning the weekend raids of its offices in Lagos by State Security Service (SSS) agents.  They didn’t just seize computers and documents, they also allegedly destroyed computers and documents on the spot. 

“We call for an independent commission of inquiry to ascertain the reasons why armed officers raided our office,” APC deputy chairman Lawal Shuaibu said.

The SSS claims it was looking for evidence of hacking and cloning fake voting cards ahead of the February elections.