AA / Lagos / Timothy Olanrewaju
Multiple explosions triggered by suspected suicide bombers have killed at least 18 people, including children and a pregnant woman, in northeast Nigeria, an official said Sunday.
Female suicide bombers set off explosive devices on Saturday in Gwoza, a town in northeastern Borno state, targeting a crowd of people attending a funeral, as well as others attending a wedding ceremony, according to a statement from Barkindo Saidu, Director of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency.
He said the third explosion occurred minutes after the first two blasts, near a government hospital in the town along the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
“So far, 18 deaths, including children, adult men and women, as well as a pregnant woman,” have been confirmed, Saidu said.
He added that 19 seriously injured people were evacuated to a public hospital in Maiduguri, the state capital.
Some 23 other injured people were evacuated from the city early Sunday for further treatment.
It was the first multiple bombing this year in the region, where terrorist groups Boko Haram and ISWAP have carried out attacks for more than a decade.
*Translated from English by Mourad Belhaj
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