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 exploded during a wedding celebration in the northeastern town of Gwoza, Barkindo Saidu, director general of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, told reporters. “A few minutes later, another explosion occurred near the General Hospital,” Saidu said, and the third bomber at the funeral was disguised as a mourner. Children and pregnant women were among the dead, the AP reported. At least 30 others were wounded, and Saidu said injuries included abdominal and skull fractures.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. Borno State has been hit hard by the insurgency launched in 2009 by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. In the past, Boko Haram has used women and girls in suicide bombings, raising suspicions that some of the attackers are from among the many thousands of people the extremists have abducted over the years, including schoolchildren. The insurgency, which has spread beyond borders around Lake Chad, has killed more than 35,000 people, displaced more than 2.6 million and created a massive humanitarian crisis. Boko Haram, with one branch affiliated with the Islamic State, wants to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria, the West African oil giant of 170 million people almost evenly divided between a predominantly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north. Authorities have imposed a curfew in Gwoza, which is close to Chibok, where 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped in 2014. Nearly 100 of the girls are still in prison.
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