18 killed, 48 injured in bomb blast in Nigeria’s Borno state

At least 18 people were killed and 48 others injured in bomb blasts in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, CNN reported citing state emergency services.

The first explosion occurred at a wedding ceremony at 3pm local time on Saturday, followed by a second explosion at the General Hospital Gwoza and a third at a funeral, CNN reported.

According to the head of the local state emergency management agency, the attacks were carried out by suspected suicide bombers.

A state police spokesperson said that in one of the three blasts in Gwoza, a woman with a child tied to her back detonated explosives in the middle of a wedding ceremony, WION reported, citing an AFP report.

Borno state police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso said the blast occurred at about 3:45 p.m. local time when a woman carrying a child on her back detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) she was carrying in a crowded motor park.

Female suicide bombers also targeted a hospital in the same city and carried out another attack during a funeral for victims of the wedding blast, WION reported, citing AFP.

Bakindo Saidu, director-general of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, confirmed 18 deaths, including children, adults and pregnant women.

“The severity of the injuries ranged from abdominal lacerations, skull fractures and limb fractures,” Saidu was quoted as saying by Reuters.

According to AFP, Saidu said 19 people who were “seriously injured” had been taken to the regional capital Maiduguri, while 23 others were waiting to be evacuated.

The Nigerian town across the border from Cameroon has been the scene of violence for more than a decade. Boko Haram seized Gwoza in 2014 but was recaptured a year later by the Nigerian military with help from the Chadian army.