3 killed, 8 injured in suicide attacks in NE Nigeria

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS Nigeria (AA) - Three civilians were killed and at least eight others injured when two suicide bombers struck outside a mosque in northeastern Nigeria, a state relief agency official said on Monday.

“Around midnight on Sunday, two female suicide bombers simultaneously attacked outside a mosque, killing themselves and three people. Eight others were critically injured in the incident,” Danbata Bello, an official of the Borno state emergency agency, told Anadolu Agency by phone.

He said the attackers detonated explosives wired to their bodies as a concerned local barred them from entering the mosque in the town of Konduga, some 40 kilometers from Borno’s capital Maiduguri.

Bello said the bombers had targeted Muslim worshippers, who often spend time in mosques at night during Muslims’ fasting month of Ramadan.

The bombers were apparently from the Boko Haram militant group, which has waged a violent insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast since 2009.

It is often not easy to know which faction of the insurgents is behind certain attacks, although the Abu Musab faction recognized by Daesh is known to be against bombing mosques, while the rival Abubakar Shekau group makes no distinction between civilians, places of worship, or military targets.