Abuja, Nigeria

At least 18 people have been killed and several others injured in suspected suicide attacks targeting a wedding, a hospital and a funeral in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday (Jun 29), said local officials. 

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What we know about the attacks

According to the head of the local state emergency management agency, a series of attacks by suspected female suicide bombers took place in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state leading to the death of 18 people. There have also been injuries to 42 people of which 19 are seriously wounded. 

The region has been at the centre of a 15-year Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands of people and led to the displacement of millions of others. The group at the centre of this violence, Boko Haram, did not immediately claim responsibility for the string of attacks.

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A report by AFP citing a state police spokesman said in one of the 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. 

The blast at the wedding ceremony took place at around 3:45 pm (local time) when a “woman carrying a baby on her back detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) she had on her at a crowded motor park,” said Borno State police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso. 

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The female suicide bombers also targeted a hospital in the same town and carried out another attack at the funeral for victims of the wedding blast, reported AFP citing local authorities. 

About the victims

Barkindo Saidu, director general of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, said 18 deaths had been confirmed, a toll that included children, adults and pregnant women. 

“The degree of injuries ranges from abdominal ruptures, skull fractures, and limb fractures,” said Saidu, as quoted by Reuters. 

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Saidu, in a report seen by AFP, said 19 people who had been “seriously injured” were taken to the regional capital Maiduguri, while 23 others were awaiting evacuation. 

Violence in Gwoza

The Nigerian town which lies across the border from Cameroon has been witnessing violence for more than a decade now. Boko Haram had seized Gwoza in 2014, but it was taken back by the Nigerian military with help from Chadian forces the year after. 

Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), are the most active militant groups in Borno. The violence has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million in Nigeria’s northeast, according to AFP. 

(With inputs from agencies)