Multiple bomb blasts kill 18 in Nigeria's restive region: Official

By Timothy Olanrewaju

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Multiple explosions by suspected suicide bombers have killed at least 18 people, including children and a pregnant woman, in Nigeria's restive northeast region, an official said on Sunday.

Suicide bombers targeting a crowd of people at a funeral event and marriage ceremony in Gwoza, a town in northeast Borno State on Saturday, detonated explosives, Barkindo Saidu, the head of Borno State Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

He explained that the third explosion occurred near a government hospital minutes after the first and second blasts in the town located along the Nigeria-Cameroon border.

"So far, 18 deaths, comprising children, adult male, females, and a pregnant woman," have been confirmed, Saidu said.

He said 19 people who were seriously injured have been taken to a public hospital in the state capital Maiduguri.

A total of 23 other injured were evacuated early Sunday from the town to receive further treatment.

The incident was the first multiple explosion in the region this year in the face of over a decade of terrorist attacks by the terror groups Boko Haram and ISWAP.