58 Killed in Double Suicide Bombing at Refugee Camp in Nigeria as Soldiers Accused of Aiding Boko Haram
At least 58 people were killed in a double suicide bombing at a refugee camp in Dikwa, in northeast Nigeria, on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports. A third suicide bomber surrendered to authorities after realizing her family was in the camp, officials said.
The camp, some 55 miles outside Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, houses nearly 53,600 people displaced by Boko Haram. Earlier this month, the militant Islamist group firebombed the village of Dalori.
“From what we gathered three female suicide bombers disguised as IDPs arrived at IDP camp at about 6:30 am (0530 GMT),” Satomi Ahmed, head of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, told AFP.
“Two of them detonated their explosives. The third one refused to set off hers when she realised her parents and siblings were in the camp. She surrendered herself to the authorities.”
Elsewhere in Nigeria on Wednesday, two soldiers were arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle arms and ammunition to Boko Haram extremists. The Associated Press reports:
Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman said the two were sappers, or combat engineers, who worked in an explosive ordinance unit in the northeast where Boko Haram commits most attacks, and may have trained insurgents in bomb-making.
Some soldiers have told the AP that Boko Haram has infiltrated Nigeria’s security forces and some fight with the army by day and with the extremists by night.
Usman spoke at a news conference where he also reported that in recent days the military has killed 35 extremists and rescued about 300 civilians held by Boko Haram.
His statements come a day after Nigeria’s Secret Service said it arrested an alleged recruiter for the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, identified as Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa. It did not give his nationality.
Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State last year.
Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.