Suicide blasts kill nine, injure 24 in Nigeria

Twin explosions from female suicide bombers suspected to be with Boko Haram killed nine people and injured 24 in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, officials and witnesses said.

 

The first explosion came when two of the bombers tried to enter a camp holding more than 16,000 refugees from Boko Haram’s Islamic uprising, according to civilian self-defense fighter Dan Batta.

 

The military said there was only one attacker. The second blast came a half-hour later and about a kilometer away when a tricycle taxi carrying two passengers exploded outside a gas station, military spokesman Colonel Mustapha Anka said.

 

Nine bodies, including those of two suicide bombers, were recovered and 24 people wounded in the explosions were evacuated to nearby hospitals, said Sani Datta, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency.