Three dead as suicide blasts rock Nigeria migrant camp

KANO, Nigeria, March 22, 2017 (AFP) -At least four suicide blasts rocked a camp for migrants fleeing Boko Haram insurgents in restive northeastern Nigeria on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding 20, officials said.

The bombings triggered fires which burned down tents in the vast Muna camp on the outskirts of the city of Maiduguri, camp coordinator Tijjani Lumani told AFP.

"There were four explosions inside the camp. The bombers struck at different locations around 4:30 am," he said.

Emergency services put the number of bombings at five.

"A total of five suicide bombers, all male adults, were involved in the incidents, killing three persons," Abdulkadir Ibrahim of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the region told AFP.

He said 20 people were wounded and taken to hospital.

The police said four people were killed while eight were injured.

Muna camp is home to tens of thousands of people who have fled the Boko Haram insurgency.

Wednesday´s blasts were the latest blamed on suicide bombers, who continue to pose a threat to civilians despite military claims of success against Boko Haram.

Four people were killed on Saturday when suicide bombers blew themselves up in a village near the city.

The Borno state capital of Maiduguri is the birthplace of Boko Haram, a radical Islamist group that has killed over 20,000 people and forced 2.6 million from their homes since taking up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009.

The violence has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in northeast Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad region, which has also been hit by the conflict.

Nigerian troops, with the help of regional forces from Cameroon, Chad and Niger, as well as Benin, have since early 2015 managed to claw back most of the territory lost to Boko Haram in 2014.

Boko Haram´s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau made his first appearance in months earlier this month, claiming responsibility for a spate of suicide bombings.