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2 female bombers kill 56 in northeast Nigerian refugee camp

Officials in Nigeria have pinned blame for the attack on the extremists.

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Last week, the Nigerian military attacked three villages considered Boko Haram strongholds near Kalabalge, killing dozens of militant fighters and rescuing hundreds of women.

No fewer than 58 persons were killed on Tuesday when suicide bombers hit the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Dikwa, Borno State.

Nigeria’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, deputising for President Muhammadu Buhari who has been on holiday, described it as “regrettable that the heartless terrorists chose to unleash their wickedness on people who were taking refuge from previous acts of destruction in their homes”.

The bombers, both female, detonated their explosives while the camp’s residents were queuing for rations.

The suicide bombing follows the invasion of two communities in Damboa LGA by Boko Haram on Monday, which led to the death of six people and the theft of food.

Last year, a military operation involving troops from several countries – including Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad – began to weaken Boko Haram’s control over areas in north-eastern Nigeria where it had declared a caliphate.

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The officials said the attackers were Boko Haram members, the group based in neighbouring Nigeria that has stepped up cross-border attacks in Cameroon’s far north despite the setting up of a roughly 9,500-strong regional military task force. At least 65 people were killed outside Borno state capital Maiduguri on January 31.

Displaced people queue for food at Dikwa camp where the attacks took place earlier this month