Suicide attack foiled in Nigeria, two female bombers killed

Two girls believed to be teenagers were killed on Saturday night in Nigeria’s northeastern town of Maiduguri when they attempted to blow themselves up.

Police confirmed the incident on Sunday saying the girls were killed by security personnel in the area after they were spotted wearing explosive vests under their clothes.

“Two female suicide bombers aged about 18 attempted to enter Maiduguri in the evening (Saturday) and were spotted by civilian JTFs (Joint Task Force) and then shot down by security service personnel in the area,” Borno state police spokesman Victor Isuku said in a statement cited by AFP.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said one of the girls killed was pregnant.

The explosives on the girls were reportedly detonated after the incident by the police EOD (explosive ordinance department) team.

Boko Haram regularly uses suicide bombers, including women, as part of its eight-year-old insurgency in the Muslim majority north of Nigeria.

Several thousands of women and girls have been abducted since the start of the armed insurgency, according to human rights bodies.