Two female suicide bombers kill over 60 people in Nigeria – Attack bears the hallmarks of Boko Haram

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Feb 11, (Agencies): Two female suicide bombers killed more than 60 people at a camp for people displaced by an insurgency of the jihadist Boko Haram group in the northeast Nigerian town of Dikwa, military and emergency officials said.

The attack occurred 85 kms (50 miles) outside the capital of Borno state, centre of the seven-year insurgency, they said. It took place on Tuesday, but a breakdown in the telephone system prevented the incident being made public earlier.

The two female suicide bombers sneaked into an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp and detonated themselves in the middle of it, emergency officials and the military source said. The chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, Satomi Ahmad, added that 78 people were injured. No group claimed responsibility but the attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has frequently used female bombers and even children to hit targets.

The militant group has recently increased the frequency and deadliness of attacks with three at the end of January. At least 65 people were killed outside Borno state capital Maiduguri on Jan 31. Since it lost territory to a government counter-offensive last year, Boko Haram has reverted to hit-and-run attacks on villages and suicide bombings at places of worship or markets. Boko Haram has only rarely targeted camps housing people displaced by the conflict and Tuesday’s attack was the first one to kill victims in Borno state.

The military said militants made one abortive attempt on a camp on the outskirts of Maiduguri on Jan 31. Boko Haram hit a Nigerian IDP camp for the first time last September, in the Adamawa state capital of Yola.

The camp had been used to house kidnapped women and children rescued by the military. IDPs fleeing Dikwa were also the target of a female suicide bomber as they tried to reach camps in Maiduguri on November 22 last year. A woman disguised as an IDP blew herself up, killing eight. On Jan 31, at least 85 people were killed in Dalori, some 12 kilometres from Maiduguri, when Boko Haram fighters attacked and burned down surrounding villagers. Suicide bombers tried to get into the IDP camp, which is the largest around Maiduguri, but were prevented.

The Boko Haram insurgency has left at least 17,000 people dead and forced more than 2.6 million from their homes in nearly seven years of violence that has also spread to neighbouring countries. At least six civilians were killed and more than 30 injured on Wednesday in a double suicide attack in the village of Nguetchewe, in northern Cameroon.

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