At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured in a triple suicide attack attributed to Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, emergency services said on Monday.

Three suicide bombers set off their explosive charges on Sunday evening in front of a football broadcasting centre where dozens of people were watching a match in the city of Konduga, 38km from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Victims are receiving medical care after an attack on a video hall

At least 30 people have been killed in a triple suicide bombing outside a video hall in north-eastern Nigeria, emergency service officials say.

Another 40 were injured in the attack in Konduga village in Borno State, the officials said.

There are conflicting report about whether the blast occurred while people were watching football or a film.

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram is being blamed for the attack. There was no immediate comment from the group.

Formed in Borno State, the group has waged a brutal insurgency across the north-east for a decade.

Ali Hassan, leader of a self-defence group in Konduga, told AFP news agency that the owner of the hall had prevented one bomber from entering.

"There was a heated argument between the operator and the bomber who blew himself up," he said.

Two other attackers who were nearby then set off their devices.

The number of deaths was so high because emergency services arrived late to the site of the blast and were not adequately equipped to deal with such a large number of wounded people, Usman Kachalla, head of operations at the State Emergency Management Agency (Sema) told AFP.

Video halls are common across northern Nigeria. They are usually rudimentary buildings where people pay a small fee to watch football matches or films.

Boko Haram has targeted them on several occasions, saying they are unIslamic.

Konduga has been targeted before. In July 2018, eight people were killed after a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a mosque.

At least 27,000 lives have been lost and about two million people forced to flee their homes in the conflict with Boko Haram.

'Daunting and complex security challenges'

This latest attack comes at the end of a bloody weekend in northern Nigeria. There is rising concern of insecurity in other parts of the country.

On Friday night an armed gang killed at least 34 people in the north-western state of Zamfara, which has been at the centre of a wave of attacks by bandits since the beginning of the year.

The Boko Haram insurgency has been terrorising people in the north-east for the past decade, and has been the main area of focus for Nigeria's armed forces.

But the triple suicide bombings in Borno on Sunday reflect just how complex the security challenges are.

The government has said that Boko Haram and the rival Islamic State of West Africa Province (Iswap) group are on their last legs. But both the military and population of the north-east continue to suffer regular attacks.

Although Boko Haram has lost a lot of the territory it held in the north-east in the last four years, it is still attacking soft targets in mosques, markets and public gatherings.

Combine this with the ongoing banditry attacks in the north-west, and kidnappings across the country's highways, and the scale of the security challenge is daunting. </s> Thirty people were killed late Sunday in a triple suicide bombing in northeast Nigeria, emergency services reported, in an attack bearing the hallmarks of the Boko Haram jihadist group.

Three bombers detonated their explosives outside a hall in Konduga, 38 kilometres (24 miles) from the Borno state capital Maiduguri, where football fans were watching a match on TV.

“The death toll from the attack has so far increased to 30. We have over 40 people injured,” Usman Kachalla, head of operations at the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said on Monday.

An earlier toll from the blasts, the bloodiest in months, gave 17 dead and 17 wounded.

The attack happened around 9:00 pm (1800 GMT), Ali Hassan, the leader of a self-defence group in the town, said.

The owner of hall prevented one of the bombers from entering the packed venue.

“There was a heated argument between the operator and the bomber who blew himself up,” Hassan said by phone.

Two other bombers who had mingled among the crowd at a tea stall nearby also detonated their suicide vests.

Hassan said most of the victims were from outside the soccer viewing centre.

“Nine people died on the spot, including the operator, and 48 were injured,” Hassan said.

Kachala said the high number of fatalities was because emergency responders had been unable to reach the site of the blast quickly.

Nor were they equipped to deal with large numbers of wounded.

“Lack of an appropriate health facility to handle such huge emergency situation and the delay in obtaining security clearance to enable us deploy from Maiduguri in good time led to the high death toll,” he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack bore the imprint of Boko Haram, which has led a decade-long campaign to establish a hard line Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

The last suicide attack was in April this year when two female suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the garrison town of Monguno, killing a soldier and a vigilante and injuring another soldier.

Konduga has been repeatedly targeted by suicide bombers from a Boko Haram faction loyal to longtime leader Abubakar Shekau.

The faction typically carries out suicide attacks against soft civilian targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations, often using young women and girls as bombers.

The jihadists are believed to sneak into the town from the group’s haven in nearby Sambisa forest.

Eight worshipers were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in the town last July.

Boko Haram insurgency has claimed 27,000 lives and forced some two million to flee their homes.

The violence has spilled into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to battle the insurgents. </s> Militants have launched a triple bombing attack in northeast Nigeria killing a multitude of people in Borno State.

Local emergency services workers reported on Monday that 30 people had died in the triple blasts in the town of Konduga, 25 kilometers from the state capital Maiduguri.

They said three bombers detonated their explosives outside a location where football fans were watching a match on TV on Sunday evening.

The militants, suspected to be members of the Boko Haram terrorist organization, have carried out numerous attacks on civilian and military targets in northeast Nigeria, and elsewhere.

Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group began its deadly attacks in northeastern Nigeria in 2009.

An estimated 27,000 people have been killed in its attacks which have forced 1.8 million people to flee their homes.

Since then, the terrorist activities of Boko Haram and a Daesh affiliate, which broke away in 2016 and is now considered by security experts as the stronger of the two, has extended into the neighboring countries of Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.

To make matters worse, criminal gangs have been wreaking havoc and terrorizing villagers in remote areas, as well.

Armed bandits on motorcycles killed 34 people in remote villages in Nigeria's northern Zamfara state on Friday. Days before that, motorcycle-riding bandits also attacked several villages in the far northwestern Sokoto state, killing more than two-dozen of the local residents.

With the lack of a strong police force and an effective judicial system in Africa’s most populous nation, villagers have established local vigilante groups to defend civilians against militants.

But the vigilantes are themselves accused of disrupting peace and justice, engaging in extra-judicial killings.

This article has been adapted from its original source. </s> Suicide bombers killed at least 30 people and injured dozens more in northeastern Nigeria late Sunday, detonating the deadliest blasts this year in a region plagued by extremist violence.

Two women and a man set off explosives in a tea hall where people had gathered to watch soccer in the small town of Konduga, authorities said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which copied a strategy of Boko Haram, the terrorist organization that has tried over the last decade to build a radical Muslim state in the country.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says that Boko Haram has been defeated. But analysts say the militants have maintained a stubborn grip on Borno State, where violence has claimed hundreds of lives in recent months.

Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation — faces security threats throughout the country, with Islamist insurgencies persisting in the northeast as clashes continue to the south between farmers and herders. Government corruption hinders efforts to ease conflict, analysts say, siphoning off resources that could be used in the push for peace.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is forbidden,” is known for sending suicide bombers, particularly women and children, into crowded markets, bus stations and mosques. Female assailants tend to follow a disturbing pattern, according to reports: They apply makeup, wear loose clothing and strap bombs to their waists.

The group grabbed international attention five years ago after kidnapping hundreds of schoolgirls in the town of Chibok. More than 100 are still missing. Boko Haram has killed an estimated 37,000 people since 2011, according to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Global Conflict Tracker.

Attacks have dropped off since the Nigerian military — with help from Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger — shrank Boko Haram’s operating terrain. But the group still holds some villages in the northeast, making remote places such as Konduga especially vulnerable.

The last suicide attack in the region happened in April. Two women detonated their devices near the village of Monguno, killing a soldier and a man who tried to stop them.

During Nigeria’s presidential election in February, gunmen and suicide bombers killed eight people in the city of Maiduguri.

Konduga, where roughly 13,400 people live, has grappled with suicide bombers for years from a faction of Boko Haram led by Abubakar Shekau, who has embraced indiscriminate violence in his quest for territory.

Eight people died there last July after a suicide bomber entered a mosque.

The Sunday blasts, which wounded 47, erupted on the same day that an armed gang killed 34 people in the northwestern state of Zamfara. Police blamed that attack on bandits.

This little-known conflict in Nigeria is now deadlier than Boko Haram

The brutal toll of Boko Haram’s attacks on civilians

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news </s> Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers killed at least 27 people and wounded 83 in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

A woman bomber blew herself up and killed 27 others at a market in the village of Konduga near Maiduguri, the epicenter of the conflict between government forces and the Islamist Boko Haram insurgents, according to a village head and an official from a regional militia.

Two suicide bombers also blew themselves up at the gates to a nearby refugee camp, with no others killed but many injured, said an emergency service official. </s> Three suicide bombers have detonated their devices at a crowded fish market in northern Nigeria, killing at least 20 people.

Borno state police spokesman Joseph Kwaji said on Saturday that the attack happened on Friday night. Hospital officials said two patients later died from their injuries.

The bombers, all believed to be female, also wounded dozens at the fish market in Konduga, just outside the state capital of Maiduguri. The city is the birthplace of the Boko Haram insurgency and has been a frequent target.

Musa Bulama, 32, said he was lucky to have survived the blasts. “I came to the night market to buy fish for dinner when I heard a loud bang some metres behind me … I saw myself on the ground, and before I could pick up myself another one went off then, the third one again. I couldn’t stand any longer and just laid down but everywhere was in total confusion. From the wailing, one can tell that there were many casualties.”

Boko Haram continues to carry out deadly suicide bombings in Borno state and other parts of northern Nigeria as part of its campaign to establish an Islamic state. The group has increasingly used women and young people as bombers, often after abducting and indoctrinating them. </s> Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers killed at least 27 people and wounded 83 in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, local sources said.

A woman bomber blew herself up and killed 27 others at a market in the village of Konduga near Maiduguri, the epicentre of the conflict between government forces and the Islamist Boko Haram insurgents, according to a village head and an official from a regional militia.

Two suicide bombers also blew themselves up at the gates to a nearby refugee camp, with no others killed but many injured, said an emergency service official.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Boko Haram has used women and children in bombings before. </s> LAGOS, Nigeria — Police say three suicide bombers have attacked a crowded market in northern Nigeria, killing at least 18 people.

Borno state police spokesman Joseph Kwaji confirms the Friday night attack to The Associated Press.

The bombers, all believed to be female, left another 22 people wounded at a fish market Konduga, just outside the state capital, Maiduguri.

The Islamist extremist group Boko Haram continues to carry out deadly suicide bombings in Borno and other parts of northern Nigeria as part of its violent campaign to establish an Islamic state in the West African nation.

The extremist group has increasingly used women and youth as bombers, often after abducting and indoctrinating them.

Maiduguri is the birthplace of the extremist group and has been a frequent target.
Three Boko Haram suicide bombers detonate their devices among a group of football fans, killing 30 people and wounding 40 others, in Konduga, Nigeria.