Two people, including a soldier and a vigilante, were killed when two female suicide bombers detonated their explosives in Borno state, military and militia sources said Friday.
The bombers quickly blew themselves up on Thursday in a bid to evade arrest when they were stopped by troops and militiamen outside the garrison town of Monguno.
“We lost a soldier and a civilian vigilante in the explosion which also injured another soldier,” a military officer who did not want to be named, told AFP.
“Two female suicide bombers were involved in the incident,” he added.
One of the bombers panicked when they were being questioned and detonated her explosives, killing her while her accomplice “took to the heels”, added a militia leader in the town.
“The soldiers and the vigilante pursued her and when she realised they were closing in on her she exploded, killing a soldier and a civilian JTF (militia),” said the militia, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of official sanction.
He said another soldier sustained injuries in the incident.
Monguno, 135 kilometres north of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, houses a military base and camps for people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.
The town which lies in the Lake Chad area has been repeatedly attacked by the jihadists who have made several failed attempts to overrun the base.
Suicide bombings are the hallmarks of the Boko Haram faction loyal to longtime leader Abubakar Shekau, targeting civilian targets like mosques, markets, schools and displaced camps.
Another IS-affiliated faction focuses on attacks on military targets including raids on bases.
Boko Haram’s decade-long conflict has killed more than 27,000 people and displaced 1.8 million others in the northeast.
The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military response to fight the Islamist group.
