Suicide Bombings Nigeria: At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured in a series of suicide bombings, including at a wedding and a funeral, in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday afternoon, according to local officials and police.
Borno State Emergency Management Agency Director-General Barkindo Saidu said the three female assailants attacked separate locations in Gwoza, a bustling town in Borno State that has been the center of an Islamist insurgency by Boko Haram for the past 15 years.
The victims included children and pregnant women, Mr. Saidu said. Some Nigerian news outlets reported that at least 30 people were killed.
As of Sunday morning, no group had claimed responsibility for the bombings. The explosions resembled previous attacks by Boko Haram, whose fighters have killed thousands of people in Nigeria and displaced more than two million people due to incursions in the region.
The first attacker on Saturday detonated a bomb he wore to a wedding, Mr. Saidu said in an initial report seen by The New York Times. According to Kenneth Daso, a public relations officer with the police in Borno, eight people, including the attacker and a child with him, were killed in the blast. Two attackers later struck near a hospital and at the funeral of an earlier blast victim, Mr. Saidu said.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has been dealing with multiple security crises over the years, including mass kidnappings of people of all ages and classes.
Boko Haram insurgents have kidnapped thousands of teenage girls and forced them into marriage. They have also forced many people to carry out suicide attacks on schools, markets, religious buildings and large gatherings.
In 2014, Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Chibok village. The Chibok Girls, as they came to be known, gained global attention after being denounced by Michelle Obama and due to the activism of campaigners who popularized the slogan “Bring back our girls”.
A decade later, dozens are still missing.
Also in 2014, the then leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, declared a caliphate in Gwoza after his fighters captured the town. The Nigerian Army regained control in 2015, and Mr. Shekau was killed in 2021, but Boko Haram fighters have since carried out several attacks in the surrounding area.