13 dead in triple suicide bombings launched by Nigerian girls

Abuja

At least 13 people were killed in the Nigerian city of Damaturu on Friday in three suicide attacks carried out by girls as residents prepared for the Eid festival at the end of Ramadan, police said.

The attacks, in an area hard hit by the Boko Haram insurgency, came just days before Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari travels to Washington for talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama.

Buhari is expected to use Monday's meeting with Obama to push for US help to tackle the jihadist violence, which has surged since he took office in May. Boko Haram have increasingly used young women and girls as human bombs over the past year as part of campaign of terror, which has left 15,000 people dead and 1.5 million homeless since 2009.

Residents said twin explosions near a prayer ground in Damaturu had killed two people, before a third blast went off moments later near a mosque leaving another 11 people dead, according to medics. "Thirteen people were killed in the suicide blasts," said Markus Danladi, Yobe state police commissioner. "The attacks were carried out by three underage girls. Fifteen people were also injured in the attacks."

The attacks followed a double bombing at a market in the town of Gombe, south of Damaturu, on Thursday evening that killed at least 49 people who were shopping for the Eid celebrations.