Bombers hit refugee camps in northeast Nigeria, 7 dead

By Olarewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AA) - At least seven people, including a woman and a child were killed, and 18 others were injured in multiple suspected suicide blasts at three refugee camps in northeast Nigeria early Wednesday morning, according to police.

Local police chief Damian Chukwu told reporters at the scene that three suicide bombers, including a female had entered the Gulumba, Muna Da'ti and Sina Baya refugee camps on the outskirts of Maiduguri city and detonated their explosives, killing four people.

"A suicide bomber found her way into the Gulumba camp at about 4.30 a.m. (0330 GMT). Another one sneaked into Muna Da'ti and a third at Sini Baya, all [of which are] in the same Muna Area.

"Four people and three suicide bombers died at the scenes while 18 people were injured and have been taken to the hospital for treatment," Chukwu said.

According to some eyewitnesses, the bombers had sneaked into the camps late Tuesday night alongside those who sell charcoal to refugees, who use it to cook their food.

Most of the people living at the camps are those who have fled their homes due to the spate of terror attacks by the Boko Haram militant group in the country’s northeast.

Boko Haram has so far not claimed the latest attack.

On Tuesday, President Mohammadu Buhari met security chiefs in the capital Abuja to review the security situation in Africa’s most populous black nation. The nearly seven years Boko Haram crisis topped the agenda of the review, according to a presidential aide.