Female suicide bombers kill 58 in Nigerian refugee camp

Two female suicide bombers killed at least 58 at a camp for people made homeless by Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency in northeast Nigeria, emergency services said on Wednesday, in the latest violence to hit the remote region. The attack is believed to be a reprisal for a military strike on Boko Haram strongholds in the area last week. It will again raise security fears about the safety of internally displaced people (IDPs) and put pressure on the government, which maintains it has the upper hand against the insurgents and is pushing for the return of civilians caught up in the violence.

Regrettable that the heartless terrorists chose to unleash their wickedness on people who were taking refuge from previous acts of destruction in their homes.

Nigeria’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo

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. 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.

Nigeria