Nigeria claims it has degraded extremists. New suicide bombings suggest they remain potent
Recent suicide bombings in northeastern Nigeria have raised questions about the country's claim that it has degraded extremists whose insurgency since 2009 has killed more than 35,000 people directly and displaced more than 2 million
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — For the first time since 2020, three female suicide bombers attacked the Nigerian border town of Gwoza, where Boko Haram extremists declared a short-lived caliphate 10 years ago, signaling that the world's longest war on militancy is still ongoing.
This came two days after officials touted success in their war against extremists, with Nigeria's military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Edward Buba telling reporters the often-used phrase: “We have greatly degraded the terrorists.”
The first of the three coordinated suicide bombings on June 30 targeted a well-attended wedding, the second was detonated at the victims' funeral and the the third at a hospital attending to the injured.
At least 32 people in total were killed in the attacks, including nine family members and friends of Mohammed Kehaya, a resident who is now worried about his safety in the state of Borno, a hotbed of Islamic militancy, where extremists once kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in 2014.
