MAIDUGURI: The death toll from multiple suicide bombings in the northeastern Nigerian town of Gwoza over the weekend has risen to 32, the country’s vice president Kashim Shettima said on Monday.
Saturday’s suicide bomb attack involving female suicide bombers targeted a wedding and a funeral. The attack was one of the worst bombings in northeast Nigeria in years, a reminder of the darker days of the country’s long-running war against militancy.
“So far, 32 people lost their lives and 42 injured were brought from Gwoza,” Shettima said during his visit to a hospital in the Borno State capital Maiduguri where some of the injured were being treated.
Preliminary reports estimated the death toll at eighteen people.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but the Boko Haram militant group is active around Gwoza.
Over 40,000 people have been killed in Nigeria’s grinding conflict, and another two million people displaced by the fighting which started in 2009.
Suicide bombings in towns have become rare after militants were pushed back from territory they controlled at the height of the conflict in 2014. However, militants still carry out attacks and ambushes in rural areas.
