Boko Haram-Style Bombings Kill Women, Children In Nigeria's Northeast

Update, Saturday, 11:20 a.m. EST: Both the numbers of bombings and casualties in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri Saturday have risen since the original article appearing below was published, according to a tweet by the Associated Press:

Original Article Appears Below

At least 47 people were killed and 50 others wounded after three bombings in Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria Saturday. Women and children were among the dead, a witness told Agence France-Presse. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the deadly blasts, but they exhibit the hallmarks of attacks carried out by the extremist group Boko Haram.

The first bomb detonated around 11:20 a.m. local time (5:20 a.m. EST) at the Baga fish market in the capital of Borno state, and two more exploded at the Monday Market and a busy Borno Express bus station just after 1 p.m., according to the official Iranian media outlet Press TV.

Boko Haram descended on the village of Njaba in Borno state Tuesday, slaughtering at least 68 villagers before dawn. The attack was not reported until Thursday because of the village’s remoteness. “The terrorists were armed to the teeth,” said Falmata Bisika, who escaped the massacre and but saw the heavily armed militants fire on fleeing residents, including four of her own grandchildren, France 24 reported.

Boko Haram has recently increased its attacks as it battles Nigerian and Chadian forces, who have expelled the Islamist extremists from territory along Nigeria’s border with Cameroon, AFP said. Soldiers from Cameroon, Chad and Niger have joined a multinational force to help troops in Nigeria contain the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed more than 13,000 people since 2009.

Boko Haram, whose name in the region’s Hausa language can be translated into English as “Western Education Is Forbidden,” has overrun vast territory in Nigeria’s northeast where the group is trying to establish an Islamic state. The violence has also displaced hundreds of thousands, according to BBC News.