Suicide bombers kill at least 28, wound over 80 in Nigeria

At least three women suicide bombers blew themselves up at the entrance of a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in northeastern Nigeria on Tuesday, killing 28 people and wounding 82, officials said.

The attack – carried out by suspected Boko Haram militants – took place in the village of Mandarari, 25 kilometres from Maiduguri, in Borno state, said Baba Kura. Kura is a member of a vigilante force set up to fight the group. 

"Three female bombers triggered their explosives outside the IDP camp ... killing 28 people and wounding 82 others," Kura said.

Village chief Lawan Kalli said on Tuesday that the bombers entered the market around 5:00 pm (local time) posing as buyers. They then went to the nearby camp for people displaced by Nigeria’s conflict and simultaneously detonated their explosives.

Musa Bura, a youth volunteer in nearby Konduga town, said most members of the local defence force were guarding the market and not the nearby camp when the attack took place.

Deadly insurgency  

Boko Haram has waged an eight-year-war to create an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. Boko Haram provoked international outrage by kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls – internationally known as the Chibok Girls – in April 2014.

Nigeria's military wrested back large swathes of territory from Boko Haram in 2016. 

But the radical group has struck back with renewed zeal since June. They are held responsible for killing at least 143 people before Tuesday's bombings and weakening the army's control.

The group's better-known faction, led by Abubakar Shekau, has mainly based itself in the sprawling Sambisa forest.  

Daesh-backed faction

A rival faction – based in the Lake Chad region, led by Abu Musab al Barnawi and boasting ties to Daesh –  has in the meantime quietly become a deadly force capable of carrying out highly-organised attacks.

Last month, an oil prospecting team was captured by al Barnawi's group. 

At least 37 people, including members of the team, died when rescuers from the military and local vigilance groups attempted to free them.

The Boko Haram insurgency and resultant government action has killed 20,000 people and forced some 2.7 million to flee their homes in the last eight years.