The group itself has since factionalised with some allied to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and some expecting terms of agreement similar to southern Nigeria's MEND insurgents.
An unnamed local official told reporters that hundreds of wounded people are being treated in hospitals after the devastation in the city of fifty thousand.
Government officials confirmed at least 53 people died in a double suicide car bombing at the anti-terrorist court building and numerous witness accounts spoke of a death toll significantly larger than the current one.
Suleimon Lawal, the police commissioner of Damaturu, said that two suicide bombers drove a vehicle laden with explosives into the local anti-terrorist court killing 53 people.
The security agencies are busy at work trying to make sure the will of the majority of the Nigerian people is not subverted by a minority [group] with a suicidal streak."
"[1] Isaac Olawale, of the Oxford University Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity said that: "The present attempt to deal with the problem using confrontational strategies will not work.
"[1] David Zounmenou, of the Institute for Security Studies, said that: "The difficulty is the amount of weapons unleashed into the desert by the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi and of his supporters.