At least 18 people killed in several suicide attacks in Nigeria

A series of suicide attacks in northeast Nigeria on Saturday afternoon, including at a wedding and a funeral, left at least 18 people dead and dozens more injured, according to local authorities and police.

Barkindo Saidu, director general of the Borno state disaster management agency, said three female attackers struck at different locations in Gwoza, a busy town in Borno state that has been the centre of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency for the past 15 years.

Among the victims were children and pregnant women, Saidu said. Some Nigerian news agencies reported that at least 30 people were killed.

As of Sunday morning, no group had claimed responsibility for the attacks. The explosions were similar to previous attacks by Boko Haram, whose fighters have killed tens of thousands of people in Nigeria and whose aggression in the region has led to the displacement of more than two million people.

The first attacker on Saturday detonated a bomb she was carrying at a wedding reception, Saidu said in a preliminary report seen by The New York Times. Eight people died in the blast, including the attacker and a baby she was carrying, said Kenneth Daso, a spokesman for Borno police. Two attackers later struck near a hospital and at the funeral of a victim of the earlier blast, Saidu said.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has been battling numerous security crises for years, including mass kidnappings of people of all ages and walks of life.

Boko Haram rebels have abducted thousands of teenagers and forced them into marriage. They have also forced many of them to carry out suicide attacks on schools, markets, religious buildings and large gatherings.

In 2014, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in the village of Chibok. The Chibok Girls, as they were called, attracted worldwide attention after Michelle Obama condemned them and because activists popularized the slogan “Bring Back Our Girls.”

A decade later, dozens are still missing.

Also in 2014, then-Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau declared a caliphate in Gwoza after his fighters captured the town. The Nigerian army retook control in 2015 and Mr Shekau was killed in 2021, but Boko Haram fighters have since carried out several attacks in the area.