Deadliest Week in Nigeria as Boko Haram Launches String of Attacks

On Thursday, two female suicide bombers killed at least thirteen people at a crowded market and a military checkpoint in northeastern Nigeria, in what is the fourth attack to occur this week. Over the past week, at least 162 people have been killed, including four suicide bombers. Boko Haram appears to be following a call recently issued by the Islamic State (IS) group to step up attacks during the holy month of Ramadan. Earlier this year, the Nigerian-based militant group pledged allegiance to IS.

Two suicide bomb blasts along a highway in northeastern Nigeria killed at least 13 people Thursday afternoon, in what is the latest in a string of almost daily attacks carried out by suspected Boko Haram militants. According to Borno state police chief Aderemi Opadokun, a female suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and injured thirteen in the village of Malari, which is located on the main road from Bama to Konduga. Minutes later, a woman in a taxi blew herself up at a military checkpoint, killing a soldier and two passengers. The second blast also occurred along the same road. A military source has indicated that in both attacks, the suicide bombers targeted crowded areas where locals sell fruit along the highway, which runs southeast of the state capital Maiduguri.

On Thursday, suspected Boko Haram militants killed nearly 150 people in northeastern Nigerian villages, targeting civilians as they prayed in mosques and shooting women who were preparing food at home. On the ground sources reported that dozens of militants stormed three remote villages in Borno state on Wednesday evening, setting houses ablaze in the bloodiest day of attacks by the extremist group since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in May. A local has reported that gunmen killed at least 97 people in the town of Kukawa, the worst-affected village, with another local reporting that more than 50 militants stormed the village. Meanwhile in two other villages near the town of Monguno, gunmen killed 48 people and injured 11 others. One resident reported that the militants arrived on motorcycles and in vans. Kukawa is located around 50 kilometres (30 miles) away from the two villages near Monguno, with all three located near Lake Chad, which straddles, Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon, and which recently has become a focal point of the unrest.