Gun attacks, suicide blast kill dozens
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen shot dead at least 42 people in two separate attacks in northeast Nigeria, with no let-up in sight to the Islamist group's targeting of civilians.
The attacks in the remote villages of Debiro Hawul and Debiro Biu in Borno state on Monday and Tuesday came before at least 10 people were killed in a suicide attack in neighbouring Yobe.
Boko Haram, which has been fighting to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria since 2009, has intensified its campaign of violence in the last month.
In all, nearly 250 people have been killed in Nigeria since Muhammadu Buhari became president on May 29 vowing to crush the militant uprising that has claimed at least 15,000 lives.
The latest attacks saw some 30 militant fighters storm Debiro Biu on Monday and Debiro Hawul the following day, with reports taking time to emerge because of the villages' remote location.
The rebels shot dead their victims after looting homes and shops and setting fire to buildings.
On Tuesday, 10 people were killed when explosives carried by a girl thought to be aged just 12 detonated at the weekly market in the village of Wagir, south of the Yobe state capital, Damaturu.
Thirty others were injured in the attack, which bore all the hallmarks of the Islamists, who have used women and young girls as human bombs since the middle of last year.
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