📷 Image Credits: Mint
At least 18 people were killed and 42 others injured in suicide attacks on Saturday in northeastern Nigeria, targeting a wedding, a hospital, and a funeral. The region has been plagued by over a decade of violence attributed to the jihadist group Boko Haram, although the group did not immediately claim responsibility for these specific attacks, AFP reported.
In one of three blasts on Saturday in the town of Gwoza, a woman with a baby strapped to her back detonated explosives in the middle of a wedding ceremony, according to a state police spokesman. Authorities said that women suicide bombers also targeted a hospital in the same town, which lies across the border from Cameroon. Another attack was later carried out at the funeral for victims of the wedding blast.
At least 18 people were killed and 42 others injured in the spate of attacks, according to the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). ‘So far, 18 deaths comprising children, men, females and pregnant women’ have been reported, agency head Barkindo Saidu said in a report seen by AFP. Nineteen ‘seriously injured’ people were taken to the regional capital Maiduguri, while 23 others were awaiting evacuation, Saidu said in the report.
Boko Haram, a jihadist terrorist organization formed in 2002 under the late Muslim cleric Mohammed Yusuf in Nigeria, has continued to operate in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, despite the Nigerian military dislodging the group from most of its controlled territory since 2015. The conflict with Boko Haram and ISIS-WA has resulted in thousands of deaths and displacement of millions.
Between 2009 and 2023, violence associated with Boko Haram has led to an estimated 40,000 deaths and displaced around 3 million people. The conflict has spread to neighboring countries, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants. Boko Haram primarily funds itself through criminal activities and has been known for exploiting women for suicide attacks and other violent acts.
