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18 dead and 42 injured in a series of suicide attacks in Nigeria

Theo

Kano, Nigeria:

At least 18 people were killed and 19 seriously injured in a series of suicide attacks in northeast Nigeria on Saturday, emergency services said.

In one of three explosions in the town of Gwoza, an attacker with a baby tied to her back detonated explosives in the middle of a wedding ceremony, a police spokesman said.

The other attacks in the border town opposite Cameroon targeted a hospital and a funeral for victims of the earlier explosion at a wedding, authorities said.

According to the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), at least 18 people were killed and 42 others injured in the attacks.

“So far, 18 deaths have been reported, including children, men, women and pregnant women,” Barkindo Saidu, the agency’s head, said in a report seen by AFP.

Nineteen “seriously injured” people were taken to the regional capital Maiduguri, while 23 others were awaiting evacuation, Saidu’s report said.

A member of a militia supporting the military in Gwoza said two of his comrades and a soldier were also killed in another attack on a security post, but authorities did not immediately confirm the number.

In 2014, Gwoza was captured by Boko Haram fighters who controlled large parts of the land in northern Borno.

The city was recaptured from the Nigerian military in 2015 with the help of Chadian forces, but the group has continued to carry out attacks from the mountains near the city since then.

Boko Haram has carried out raids, killing men and abducting women who ventured out of the city in search of firewood and acacia fruits.

The violence has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced about two million in northeast Nigeria.

The conflict has spread to neighboring Niger, Cameroon and Chad and led to the formation of a regional military coalition to combat the militants.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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