At Least 18 People Killed in Multiple Suicide Bombings in Nigeria

Three female attackers detonated devices at a wedding and at a funeral in a city once ruled by Boko Haram, emergency service officials said. So far, no group has claimed responsibility.

At least 18 people were killed and dozens of others were injured in a series of suicide bombings, all carried out by women, on Saturday afternoon in northeastern Nigeria.They included one explosion that went off at the wedding of a young couple and another at a funeral, according to local officials.

Barkindo Saidu, the director general of Borno State’s emergency management agency, said that three female attackers had struck distinct locations in Gwoza, a bustling city in Borno State that has been the center of an insurgency by the militant group Boko Haram over the last 15 years.

The victims included children and pregnant women, Mr. Saidu said. Some Nigerian news outlets reported that at least 30 people had been killed.

As of Sunday afternoon, no group had claimed responsibility for the bombings. The blasts resembled attacks carried out by Boko Haram, whose fighters have killed tens of thousands in Nigeria and whose aggression in the region has led to the displacement of more than two million people.

The number of suicide bombings has decreased in recent years, but Saturday’s multiple blasts were a reminder that terrorism remains a vivid threat in northeastern Nigeria.

The first attacker on Saturday detonated a bomb that she was wearing at a wedding celebration, Mr. Saidu said in a preliminary report seen by The New York Times. Seven people died in that explosion, including the attacker and a baby she had with her, according to Kenneth Daso, a public relations officer with the police in Borno.

Two other attackers struck later near a hospital and at the funeral services for a victim of the earlier blast, Mr. Saidu said. Authorities did not say how many devices were detonated, how many people were killed in the two other bombings or whether the suicide bombers in those attacks were killed. But Mr. Saidu said that “so far,” at least 18 people were known to have been killed in the series of attacks.

Among the people killed at the wedding were three men, including a high school teacher, an entrepreneur and a bicycle seller, said Baba Shehu Saidu, a friend of theirs and of the groom who said that he had planned to attend the wedding but had to cancel at the last minute. The bride and the groom survived the attack. It was not immediately clear if they were injured.

The victims “were kind, smart people who had white-collar jobs and were giving back to their community,” said Mr. Saidu, 30, a lecturer in mathematics at Borno State University in the city of Maiduguri, who is not related to the emergency services director of the same name.

Conflicting reports were given on Sunday by the police and the emergency services. Mr. Daso, from the Borno police, said that there had been only two explosions. But in a telephone interview, Mr. Saidu from the emergency services said that he and his team had witnessed three, including one near a hospital where a female teenager detonated a device. Fatima Musa, a civil servant on Gwoza’s local government council, also said that three bombings had taken place in Gwoza.

President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria called the attacks “desperate acts of terror” and an “isolated episode.”

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has been battling multiple security crises for years, including mass kidnappings of people of all ages and classes.

Boko Haram insurgents have abducted thousands of teenage girls and coerced them into forced marriages. They have also forced many to carry out suicide attacks at schools, markets, religious buildings and large gatherings.

In 2014, Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in the village of Chibok. The Chibok Girls, as they came to be known, received global attention after condemnation by Michelle Obama and because of activism by campaigners who popularized the slogan “Bring Back Our Girls.”

A decade later, dozens are still missing.

Also in 2014, Boko Haram’s leader at the time, Abubakar Shekau, declared a caliphate in Gwoza after his fighters seized the city. The Nigerian Army retook control in 2015, and Mr. Shekau was killed in 2021.

At least 30 people injured in the bombings were taken to a larger hospital in Maiduguri, about 130 miles north of Gwoza, on Sunday, Ms. Musa, the local civil servant, told a Times journalist present at the hospital.

One of them was Mohammed Ali, a wedding attendant who was lying on a hospital bed and shouting in pain. He said that he was sharing pictures with a friend at the wedding reception when a woman approached, saying that she was hungry. Then Mr. Ali heard a loud sound. Several of his friends were killed instantly, he said in tears.

He was scheduled to undergo surgery on his injured shoulder later on Sunday.