Deadly Blasts in Nigeria: 18 Killed, 30 Injured

Picture courtesy: (AFP) Victims of the wave of blasts in Gwoza are being treated for injuries at a hospital in Maiduguri.

(The Post News)- On Sunday, June 30, reports from Nigeria indicated that several explosions carried out by suicide bombers resulted in the deaths of at least 18 people, including children and a pregnant woman, in the country’s troubled northeast region.

The head of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Barkindo Saidu, said in a statement that the suicide bombers rushed towards a crowd of people, including a funeral event and a marriage ceremony, in Gwoza, a town in northeast Borno State, on Saturday and detonated explosives.

In addition, the third explosion incident was near a government hospital minutes after the first and second blasts in the town around the Nigeria-Cameroon border.

However, they have confirmed the deaths of 18 people, comprising children, adult males, females, and pregnant women. The 19 people who were seriously injured were taken to a public hospital in the state capital, Maiduguri.

Other injured people were evacuated early Sunday from the town to get further treatment.

President Bola Tinubu condemned the assault, naming it a “desperate act of terror,” vowing serious action against those responsible for the assault in the town of Gwoza, and insinuating that the assault had not undermined recent gains made against jihadists.

A statement issued by his spokesperson on social media argued that the president intended that the perpetrators of the violence would have a certain encounter with justice and that these cowardly attacks were only an isolated episode, as his government would not permit the nation to slither into an era of terrorism, tears, fear, sorrow, and blood.

At the moment, no one has taken responsibility for carrying out the attacks, even though Nigeria-centred Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgents have in the past claimed deadly bombings in Borno.

Amnesty International Nigeria called to stop assaults on civilians in Borno.

The deplorable attacks that occurred during the time when people were mourning demonstrated complete disregard for human life.

The US Mission in Nigeria described the deadly blasts as “horrific.”

In a separate matter, during the last four months, attackers have amused people twice through suicide and improvised explosive devices in Borno State.

Borno State has been at the centre of the violence of a 15-year insurgency by Boko Haram Islamist militants, which has resulted in the displacement of more than two million people and the killing of 40,000 people.

Boko Haram took control of international notoriety around April 2014 when it kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, including Borno State.