At least 18 dead and dozens injured in suicide attacks in Nigeria | News

Suspected female suicide bombers are targeting a wedding, a funeral and a hospital in the troubled Borno region.

At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured after suspected female suicide bombers carried out a series of explosions at a wedding, a hospital and a funeral in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno.

Three explosions occurred on Saturday in the town of Gwoza, which lies across the border with Cameroon, Borno state police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso said on Sunday.

In one of the attacks, which occurred at around 3:45 p.m. (14:45 GMT), a woman carrying a baby on her back “detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) she was carrying in a crowded parking lot,” Daso said.

The suicide bombers also reportedly targeted a hospital in the same city. Another attack was carried out later at the funeral of the victims of the wedding attack, authorities said.

“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.

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

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Borno, a vast rural area nearly the size of Ireland, has been scarred by 15 years of violence that has left thousands dead and millions displaced.

Although the Nigerian military has weakened the capabilities of the armed groups, they continue to carry out deadly attacks on civilians and security targets.

In 2019, 30 people lost their lives in a triple suicide attack in the region. It was the worst mass killing by suicide bombers in the region that year.

Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), are the most active armed groups in Borno.

During the course of its armed insurgency, Boko Haram has repeatedly used young women and girls to carry out suicide attacks. Gwoza was captured by the group in 2014 when its fighters seized large swathes of land in northern Borno.

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.

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

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