THE HUNTED HOMELESS; SAD

Eight people were killed Sunday when a female suicide bomber detonated
her explosives among women and children arriving in Nigeria’s
northeastern city of Maiduguri seeking to escape Boko Haram violence in
the countryside.
Mohammed Kanar, a local coordinator for the National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said the blast
happened on Sunday morning as the group arrived from
Dikwa, 90 kilometres (56 miles) to the northeast.
The restive city of Maiduguri has repeatedly been attacked by
Boko Haram and the latest bloodshed again underlines the
threat posed by the Islamist group, which has been launching
guerrilla-style attacks since being pushed out of its captured
territory and camps by a Nigerian army offensive.
Kanar said the bomber in Sunday’s attack was aged about 20
and struck as the group reached a checkpoint on the
outskirts of Maiduguri.
“The IDPs (interally displaced persons), mostly women and
children, were stopped for security checks at the checkpoint
when the bomber, disguised as an IDP, sneaked in amongst
them before setting off her explosives,” he told AFP.
“Eight people were killed and seven others were injured in
the incident.”
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman gave the same account
and toll.
There has been a wave of suicide and home-made bomb
attacks against civilians in urban areas recently, particularly
Maiduguri, which in October alone was hit six times, killing
at least 54 people.
On Saturday, four teenage girls blew themselves up in a
village near Fotokol, in Cameroon’s far north region near the
border with Nigeria, killing five, including a traditional chief.
Similar attacks have happened in Chad and Niger.
Dikwa was recaptured from Boko Haram in July and NEMA’s
Kanar said the town had seen an influx of people from
surrounding villages seeking military protection but the
authorities had struggled to cope.
“They had been short of supplies, mostly food and other
items, which prompted some of them to move to Maiduguri,”
he added.
“We intend to make some relief distribution in the coming
days.”
The six-year Boko Haram insurgency has forced some 2.6
million people from their homes and left at least 17,000 dead.
The United Nations said this week that Maiduguri’s
population had swollen to 2.6 million following an influx of
1.6 million people fleeing the violence and its aftermath.
Already poor infrastructure in rural areas of Nigeria’s
northeast has been destroyed by the violence, with services
such as healthcare and education devastated and agriculture
severely hit by the unrest.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has given his
military commanders until next month to end the conflict but
has conceded guerrilla-style attacks in urban centres could
continue.

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