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 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,” he said. “I counted 12 corpses and over 40 injured victims.”
The head of rescue operations for the State Emergency Management Agency, Bello Dambatta, said a female bomber attacked the market while the other attacker was male.
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.
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The Islamic extremist group has used a growing number of women and children as suicide bombers, often after abducting and indoctrinating them, in recent months.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari in his New Year’s address again claimed that Boko Haram had been largely defeated.
That came a year after he declared that the extremist group had been “crushed” following a military effort to flush the fighters from their forest strongholds.
A series of deadly attacks in Maiduguri and elsewhere followed last year.
The insurgency has displaced millions of people, creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, and staged 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.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
