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Bomb Blasts In Nigeria Kill At Least 9

People clear the scene after an explosion in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Saturday.
Jossy Ola
/
AP
People clear the scene after an explosion in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Saturday.

Two explosions killed at least nine people in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday. The bombs were detonated by suspected suicide bombers linked to extremist group Boko Haram.

NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton told our Newscast desk that "the two blasts came 30 minutes and about a mile apart in the Maiduguri area." She said:

A Nigerian military spokesman says, in the first explosion, a suspected female suicide bomber ran into a group of men and women leaving a camp housing more than 16,000 displaced people. ... In the second blast, a tricycle taxi carrying two passengers exploded outside a gas station.

The Associated Press adds that the attacks follow a "months-long lull" in Boko Haram violence, stemmed from a battle among the ISIS-affiliated group's leaders.

As The Two-Way reported in August, the Islamic State "officially named Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the militant group's new leader and says he will pursue a different strategy — but the old leader, Abubakar Shekau, says he's still in charge."

Later than month, the Nigerian Air Force announced that Shekau had been fatally wounded in air strikes, but — as the BBC reported — he was shown alive and well in a video just last month.

Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people in seven years, in and across Nigeria's borders, and chased away more 2.6 million others, Ofeibea reports.

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