16 killed, 82 injured in Nigeria suicide blasts

By Olarewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AA) - Suicide bombers killed at least 16 people and injured 82 others in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state.

Police commissioner Damian Chukwu told reporters Wednesday that two female and a male bombers entered a car parking station at Konduga town on Tuesday evening and detonated explosives.

Details of the blasts were sketchy until Wednesday morning due to lack of communication facilities at Konduga, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) to the capital Maiduguri.

"Two female suicide bombers and a male counterpart approached a mini motor park/market at Konduga town.

"They all detonated IEDs [improvised explosive devices] strapped to their bodies, killing themselves and 16 others while about 82 persons were injured," the police commissioner said.

He said victims have been shifted to a public hospital in Maiduguri.

Sources at the hospital told Anadolu Agency that the casualty may rise as more bodies were discovered at the scene in the early hours of Wednesday.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but similar attacks in the past were carried out by Boko Haram, which is perpetrating violence in the country's northeast.