At least 18 people killed in several suicide attacks in Nigeria

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — A series of suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria, all carried out by women, killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more on Saturday afternoon. One of the attacks occurred at a young couple’s wedding and another at a funeral, local authorities said.

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 an insurgency by the militant group Boko Haram 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 afternoon, no group had claimed responsibility for the bombings.

The explosions were similar to attacks by Boko Haram, whose fighters have killed tens of thousands in Nigeria and whose aggression in the region has displaced more than two million people. The number of suicide bombings has declined in recent years, but Saturday’s numerous explosions were a reminder that terrorism remains a major threat in northeast Nigeria.

The first attacker detonated a bomb she was carrying at a wedding reception on Saturday, Saidu said in a preliminary report seen by The New York Times. Seven people were killed in the explosion, including the attacker and a baby she was carrying, said Kenneth Daso, a police public relations officer in Borno.

Two more attackers later struck near a hospital and at the funeral of a victim of the earlier blast, Saidu said.

Authorities did not say how many bombs were detonated, how many people were killed in the other two attacks, or whether the suicide bombers in those attacks were killed. However, Saidu said that “so far” they knew of at least 18 deaths in the series of attacks.

Among those killed at the wedding were three men, including a high school teacher, a businessman and a bicycle seller, said Baba Shehu Saidu, a friend of the couple and the groom, who said he had planned to attend the wedding but had to cancel at the last minute.

The bride and groom survived the attack. It was initially unclear whether they were injured.

The victims “were kind, smart people who had office jobs and gave back to their community,” said Baba Shehu Saidu, 30, a mathematics lecturer at Borno State University in the city of Maiduguri who is not related to the emergency services chief of the same name.