Suicide Bomber Kills 8 in Maiduguri, Nigeria

At least eight people have been killed and 18 more wounded after a female suicide bomber detonated at a mosque yesterday morning.

According to reports, the woman approached the mosque during prayers, in the early hours of Monday, 17 July. The mosque was being guarded by civilian joint task militia, who ordered her to stop, so that she could be searched. Instead, she ran into the mosque and detonated her explosives.

It appears that this formed part of a coordinated attack in Maiduguri. Around the same time as the mosque explosion, another female suicide bomber got stuck in barbed wire nearby the mosque and her explosives detonated, while two other female suicide bombers were shot and killed in the city.

While not yet confirmed, it’s suspected that this is the latest in a series of attacks carried out by Boko Haram extremists. Maiduguri, in Northeast Nigeria, was once a Boko Haram stronghold, and is a favourite target of the extremist group, with civilian targets such as markets, mosques and refugee camps hit regularly.

Boko Haram has increasingly used women and children to carry out their attacks as their insurgency has been pushed out of their captured territory. Nigeria’s army chief, Tukur Buratai, said in June that Boko Haram has been “defeated”, but increased attacks in the past few weeks have raised questions about this claim.

Boko Haram has killed over 20 000 people since their attacks began in 2009.