Three suicide bombers killed 19 people at a fish market in northeast Nigeria, civilian militia leaders said on Saturday, in an attack blamed on Boko Haram militants.
Friday’s deadly attacks came in the week that hundreds of Boko Haram suspects went on trial at civilian courts at a military base, AFP reported.
One fighter involved in the 2014 abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the Borno state town of Chibok was jailed for 15 years.
The suicide blasts happened at about 8:30 pm (1930 GMT) on Friday in Konduga, some 35 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
There was no immediate comment from the military or the police in Borno state, which has borne the brunt of the violence in Boko Haram’s nearly nine-year insurgency.
At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million others made homeless since 2009. Nigeria’s military and government maintains the group is a spent force.
But suicide attacks and raids persist, with civilians in hard-to-reach rural areas and outlying towns at risk.
On January 31, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at Mandarari village, near Konduga.
The blasts happened shortly after another bomber killed four and injured 44 at a displaced persons’ camp in Dalori, 22 kilometers away on the same road to Maiduguri.
A fourth bomber also blew herself up outside the camp.
The Nigerian officer in charge of operations against Boko Haram, Major General Rogers Nicholas, on Wednesday said the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group affiliate was “in disarray”.
On Tuesday, the army claimed Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was “running for his dear life” because of military action against his hideout.
Army spokesman Brigadier General Sani Usman said Shekau was “desperately trying to escape... disguised as a woman” wearing a hijab to avoid detection.
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