LAGOS, Portugal, Feb. 11 (UPI) — At least 58 people were killed and 78 injured when two female suicide bombers set off their vests in a Nigerian camp for victims of Boko Haram.
The two bombers entered the camp in northeastern Nigeria on Monday with a third young woman, all disguised as displaced people. The two blew themselves up at dawn on Tuesday, while the third changed her mind after finding out her family was in the camp, said Satomi Alhaji Ahmed, head of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency.
All the victims were in the camp because they were already among the more than 53,000 people who have fled their homes and villages because of Boko Haram attacks. The camps even provided military protection.
The third girl surrendered to authorities and warned of more attacks in the works for the camp.
Boko Haram has routinely used suicide bombers to carry out its jihadist goals, but using woman and girls as the bombers is a new tactic. So far, it’s been effective because the women can hide the suicide vests under their gowns. Refugee camps are often targets.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has so far been effective in driving the terror group out of villages it once ruled. Government officials have been slowly moving people back to their villages once they are declared safe.
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