Female Bombers Kill 18 at Wedding, Funeral, and Hospital

Victims in northern Nigeria include children and pregnant women
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 30, 2024 11:45 AM CDT
Female Bombers Kill 18 at Wedding, Funeral, and Hospital
A victim of a suicide bomb attack receives treatment at a hospital in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Sunday.   (AP Photo/Joshua Omiri)

Female suicide bombers targeted a wedding, a funeral, and a hospital in coordinated attacks in northern Nigeria that killed at least 18 people, local authorities said Sunday. The first bomber detonated during a marriage celebration in the northeastern town of Gwoza, Barkindo Saidu, director-general of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, told reporters. "Minutes later, another blast occurred near General Hospital," Saidu said, and the third bomber at the funeral service was disguised as a mourner. Children and pregnant women were among those killed, the AP reports. At least 30 others were wounded, and Saidu said injuries included abdominal ruptures and skull fractures.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the the attacks. Borno state has been heavily affected by the insurgency launched in 2009 by the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group. In the past, Boko Haram has used women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some attackers come from the many thousands of people the extremists have kidnapped over the years, including schoolchildren. The insurgency, which has spilled across borders around Lake Chad, has killed over 35,000 people, displaced over 2.6 million and created a massive humanitarian crisis. Boko Haram, with one branch allied to the Islamic State group, wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, West Africa's oil giant of 170 million people divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north. Authorities imposed a curfew in Gwoza, which is close to Chibok, where 276 schoolgirls were abducted in 2014. Nearly 100 of the girls are still in captivity.

(More Nigeria stories.)

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