MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up
in a northeastern Nigerian refugee camp, killing at least 58 people,
health and rescue officials said Wednesday.
A third woman bomber was arrested and gave officials
information about other planned bombings that helped them increase
security at the camp, said an official of the Borno State Emergency
Management Agency.
Some 78 people are being treated for wounds from the
twin explosions that occurred Tuesday morning in a camp of some 50,000
people driven from their homes by the Boko Haram Islamic uprising,
according to health workers in Maiduguri, the biggest city in
northeastern Nigeria and birthplace of Boko Haram. They spoke on
condition of anonymity as did rescue officials who said they were not
authorized to speak to reporters.
The emergency management official said 51 bodies were
buried Wednesday in Dikwa, the scene of the carnage 85 kilometers (53
miles) northeast of Maiduguri. Health workers said five bodies were
brought to the main hospital in Maiduguri. PR Nigeria, an agency that
disseminates official news, Wednesday night quoted health and rescue
officials putting the number of dead at 58. The officials said poor
cellphone service delayed news of the attack.
Boko Haram's 6-year-old Islamic insurgency
has killed 20,000 people, made 2.5 million homeless and spread across
Nigeria's borders.
In northern Cameroon, officials said two
suicide bombers believed to have come from Nigeria on Wednesday killed
10 people and injured 40 attending a wake in a border village, including
children. Attacks in Chad and Niger also are blamed on Boko Haram.
Since troops from Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon
last year drove the Islamic extremists from towns and villages where
they had announced an Islamic caliphate, the insurgents have taken to
attacking soft targets such as mosques and market places where many
people gather.
SLIDESHOW – Boko Haram >>>
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