4 killed, 18 injured in camps for those displaced by Boko Haram

MAIDUGURI: Multiple blasts at camps for people who have fled the Islamist militants Boko Haram killed four and injured 18 in the north-eastern Nigeria city of Maiduguri, the state police commissioner said yesterday.

The attacks were the latest in a series in the past week. In a video circulated on Friday, a man claiming to be militant group Boko Haram’s leader assumed responsibility for bombings in Maiduguri and a raid in a nearby town last week.

Bombings near the city killed four on Sunday.

Borno Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu said the latest blasts happened at around 4.30am.

“Three bomb explosions occurred at three different locations near Muna Garage, Maiduguri. Four people were killed and 18 people injured,” he said.

Chukwu said two of the blasts happened at camps for people displaced by Boko Haram.

The frequency of attacks has increased since the end of the rainy season late last year.

Boko Haram’s eight-year-old campaign to create an Islamic caliphate in north-eastern Nigeria has left about 15 000 people dead.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is concerned about Cameroon forcing thousands of refugees to return to north-east Nigeria.

UN teams in Nigeria have documented accounts of Cameroonian troops returning refugees against their will.

A UNHCR spokesman said the agency was “particularly concerned” that more than 2 600 refugees, many of whom had fled Boko Haram, had been sent back to Nigerian border villages since the start of the year.