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Suicide Bombers Attack Market in Nigeria, Killing at Least 12

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The attack, which also wounded at least 48 people, struck a market in the northern city of Maiduguri that has been hit several times by Boko Haram militants.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — A double suicide bombing at a market in Nigeria’s northern city of Maiduguri killed at least 12 people and wounded 48 others on Wednesday, residents and an emergency official said.
Ibrahim Usman, a trader in the Muna Garage market, said the first bomber attacked inside the market while the other remained outside, killing only himself.
“Suddenly there was a loud bang and everywhere became disorganized,” Mr. Usman said. “I counted 12 corpses and over 40 injured victims.”
The official in charge of rescue operations for the State Emergency Management Agency, Bello Dambatta, said that the bomber who was inside the market was a woman and that the one who remained outside was a man.
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the attack was similar to many carried out by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. Muna Garage, the site of a camp for displaced people, has been attacked several times in the past few years by Boko Haram insurgents. Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, has been a refuge for thousands of people displaced by the insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast.
Boko Haram, which was formed in Maiduguri, has killed more than 20,000 people in its nine-year insurgency. The group has used women and children as suicide bombers, often after abducting and indoctrinating them.
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in his New Year’s address again claimed that Boko Haram had been largely defeated. That pronouncement came a year after he declared that the extremist group had been “crushed” after a military effort to flush the fighters from their forest strongholds.
A series of deadly attacks in Maiduguri and elsewhere followed Mr. Buhari’s remarks last year.
The insurgency has displaced millions of people, creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, and has carried out attacks in neighboring countries participating in a military operation against it.
Boko Haram wants to set aside Nigeria’s Constitution and replace it with Shariah law.

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