Nigeria suicide bomb attack toll rises to 32
A victim of a recent wave of suicide attacks arrives for treatment at a hospital in Maiduguri on June 29, 2024. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- Saturday's attack involving female suicide bombers targeting a wedding and a funeral was one of the worst bombings in northeast Nigeria in years
Maiduguri. The death toll from a multiple suicide bomb attack 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 attack involving female suicide bombers targeting a wedding and a funeral was one of the worst bombings in northeast Nigeria in years, a reminder of the darker days of the country's long-running jihadist war.
"So far, 32 people lost their lives. Forty-two (injured) were brought from Gwoza," Shettima said, visiting a hospital in the Borno State capital Maiduguri where some of the wounded were being treated.
Initial reports estimated the death toll at 18 people.
No group has claimed the blasts, but the Boko Haram jihadist group is active around Gwoza.
More than 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 since militants were pushed back from territory they controlled at the height of the conflict in 2014, though they still carry out attacks and ambushes in rural areas.
