At Least 18 Dead in Series of Suicide Attacks on Nigerian Town

Overnight, Boko Haram militants fired on a rural military camp in the northern Nigerian state of Yobe but were beaten back by government troops, resulting in 100 militant deaths. Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said that the fight took the lives of seven troops and injured nine in the village of Goniri.

At dawn, as people were arriving at a mosque for morning prayers, one woman detonated herself  in Yobe's commercial center Damaturu.  A second attack followed shortly thereafter.

"One of the suicide bombers gained entry into the mosque and detonated explosives and the other bomber was sighted roaming around the compound and (when) asked questions, she too detonated explosives," said resident Ibrahim Musa.

Musa counted 15 dead and 12 wounded, who were taken to the hospital in the town, which has been the site of dozens of attacks in the six years since Nigeria's Islamist uprising.

Assistant Superintendent Toyin Gbagedesin said seven people were killed in the Damaturu attacks, with the Associated Press reporting there was no way to reconcile the differing death tolls.

Gbagedesin also said two male suicide bombers killed ten people in a third attack on a Fulani herders' settlement.

Locals have blamed Boko Haram militants for the early morning attack.

According to estimates from Amnesty International, 20,000 people have died in Nigeria's islamist insurgency.