Suicide attacks in Nigeria leave at least 18 dead and 19 others “seriously injured”

The region has been scarred by violence by the jihadist group Boko Haram for over a decade. The group did not immediately claim responsibility for the series of attacks.

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

“At around 3:45 p.m. (10:45 p.m. Hong Kong time, Saturday), a woman carrying a baby on her back detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) she was carrying in a crowded parking lot,” said Nahum Kenneth Daso, spokesman for the Borno State Police.

In the same town, across the border from Cameroon, female suicide bombers also targeted a hospital. Another attack was later carried out at the funeral of the victims of the wedding attack, authorities said.

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

“So far, 18 deaths have been reported, including children, men, women and pregnant women,” agency chief Barkindo Saidu said in a report.

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

A member of a militia supporting the military in Gwoza said two colleagues and a soldier were also killed in a separate attack on a security post, although authorities did not immediately confirm that number.

Although Boko Haram has lost ground in recent years, jihadists in Nigeria continue to carry out regular attacks on rural communities.

Throughout the insurgency, Boko Haram has repeatedly used young women and girls to carry out suicide attacks.

The group captured Gwoza in 2014 when its militants seized vast areas of northern Borno.

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The city was recaptured by the Nigerian military in 2015 with the help of Chadian forces, but the group continued to launch attacks from the mountains near the city.

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.