Suicide Bomber Kills 13 Others in Northeast Nigerian City

A suicide bomber killed 13 other people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Sunday, a police official said, the deadliest attack in over a month as the conflict with Boko Haram stretches into its ninth year.

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The evening attack, which also injured five people, struck the city’s Muna Garage area, Damian Chukwu, a police commissioner, told Reuters.

The area is home to a camp for just some of the more than 2 million people who have fled fighting with the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, which has left over 20,000 dead.

That conflict, the epicenter of which is in northeastern Nigeria, is showing little sign of slowing, despite assurances by the government and military that Boko Haram is on the verge of defeat.

On Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that “attacks against civilians - including suicide bombings in and near IDP (internally displaced person) camps - continue to be a major concern.”

Two suicide bombers also injured 13 other people in a separate attack, said Chukwu.

The first bomber detonated her explosive belt around 9.45 p.m. in front of a small restaurant in the capital of Borno state “when people were buying their dinner,” a military source said on condition of anonymity, giving the death toll. 

The two other bombers followed minutes later, resulting in the injured, an armed militia leader said, noting that the attack came “hours after reports of sighting of a lot of Boko Haram members outside the city.”