Nigeria: At least 18 people died and dozens were injured in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State when suspected female suicide bombers set off explosions at a wedding, a hospital, and a funeral.
Saturday saw three explosions in the town of Gwoza, which is located over the Cameroonian border, a spokesman for the Borno State police said on Sunday, Nahum Kenneth Daso.
A woman carrying a baby on her back “detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) she had on her at a crowded motor park” during one of the attacks, which happened at roughly 3:45 p.m. (14:45 GMT), as per the sources.
According to reports, a hospital in the same town was also targeted by the suicide bombers. Authorities reported that a second attack was later carried out during the funeral of wedding bombing victims.
According to a report by agency chief Barkindo Saidu, “so far, 18 deaths comprising children, men, females, and pregnant women” have been reported.
Thirty-three others were waiting to be evacuated, and nineteen “seriously injured” individuals were sent to Maiduguri, the provincial capital.
A militia member supporting the military in Gwoza reported that in an additional attack on a security station, two of their colleagues and a soldier also perished. Authorities did not, however, confirm the deaths right away.
A 15-year period of violence that has claimed thousands of lives and uprooted millions more has left Borno, a sizable region of rural hinterland the size of Ireland, traumatized.
Even though the armed groups’ capabilities have been diminished by the Nigerian military, they continue to launch lethal operations against civilians and security objectives.