Nigeria’s State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in North East Borno state has confirmed 18 people killed on Saturday when four suicide bombers set off improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The incident happened in Gwoza, Borno State, SEMA said.
The attack, one of the deadliest reported in the state in recent months, injured more than 30 persons.
The degree of injuries ranges from abdominal ruptures to skull and limb fractures.
The Director-General of SEMA, Mr Barkindo Saidu, said he witnessed the first blast.
“In my presence, at about 3 pm, the first bomb blast in Gwoza occurred, detonated by a female suicide bomber in the midst of the marriage ceremony celebration,” he wrote in a situation report later in the day.
“It affected more than 30 persons with various levels of injuries and instant death.
Some minutes later, another blast occurred around General Hospital.”
The wedding was held at Tashan Mararaba near the Fire Service in Gwoza town.
A survivor said the first bomber was carrying a baby on her back when she stormed the venue and detonated the IED.
As people gathered to bury those killed at the wedding, Saidu said a third bomber, a lady, detonated another IED with a lot of casualties.
While emergency officials were in the hospital coordinating the rescue mission, a fourth blast was set off by a female teenager.
“So far, 18 deaths comprise children, adult males, females, and pregnant women. 19 seriously injured were conveyed to Maiduguri in four ambulances,” Saidu said.
Victims of a recent wave of suicide attacks are treated at a hospital in Maiduguri on June 29, 2024.
The region has been scarred by more than a decade of violence by the jihadist group Boko Haram, which did not immediately claim responsibility for the string of attacks.
At the time he released the situation report, he said 23 were waiting for military escort “in the Medical Regimental Services (MRS) Clinic”.
The evacuation of the injured continued into the night with the SEMA DG, who was in Gwoza when the attacks occurred, coordinating the process from there.
He also said he had received a report of a suspected suicide bomber in Pulka but did not provide further details about that.
The military has imposed a curfew in Gwoza LGA in the wake of the attacks.
Meanwhile President Bola Tinubu has strongly condemns the bomb attacks.
President Tinubu described the attacks as desperate acts of terror and a clear manifestation of the pressure mounted against terrorists and the success achieved in degrading their capacity to launch offensives.
The President declares that the purveyors of wanton violence shall have a certain encounter with justice, and that these cowardly attacks are only but an isolated episode as his government will not allow the nation to slither into an era of fear, tears, sorrow, and blood.
He stated that his administration is taking necessary measures to secure citizens, emphasizing that efforts will be redoubled to ensure that those who trouble the nation, dispatching precious lives, and disrupting law and order are completely removed.
President Tinubu condoles with the victims of the attacks, the families of the deceased, as well as the government and people of Borno State.