A series of suicide strikes in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday resulted in at least 18 fatalities and 19 critical injuries, according to emergency authorities.
According to a police spokesperson, during a wedding ceremony in the town of Gwoza, a female assailant detonated explosives during one of three bombings. She had a baby strapped to her back.
Authorities said that a hospital and a burial for the victims of the previous wedding blast were the targets of the other strikes in the border town across from Cameroon.
Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) reports that the attacks resulted in at least 18 fatalities and 42 injuries. 18 deaths—including those involving men, women, children, and pregnant women—have been documented thus far, according to a report seen by AFP and signed by the agency’s head, Barkindo Saidu.
According to Saidu’s report, 23 people were waiting to be evacuated, while 19 “seriously injured” individuals were transported to Maiduguri, the regional capital. Although authorities did not immediately corroborate this toll, a member of a militia supporting the military in Gwoza claimed that two of his comrades and a soldier were also killed in another attack on a security post.
In 2014, Boko Haram insurgents captured Gwoza after seizing large areas of northern Borno.
With assistance from Chadian forces, the Nigerian military reclaimed the town in 2015, although the group has since persisted in attacking from the highlands close to the town. Raids by Boko Haram have resulted in the deaths of males and the abduction of women who leave the town in pursuit of acacia fruits and firewood.
In the northeast of Nigeria, the violence has claimed the lives of over 40,000 people and forced around two million more to flee.
In response to the conflict’s expansion into the nearby countries of Niger, Cameroon, and Chad, a regional military alliance was formed to combat the insurgents.
