Collected photo

KONDUGA, Nigeria, June 21, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A suicide attack in Nigeria's 
Borno state by a woman allegedly acting for Boko Haram insurgents has killed 
at least 20 anti-jihadist fighters, militia members told AFP on Saturday.

Police have confirmed 10 people were killed and said the overall toll could 
be higher.

Boko Haram and its rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), 
have in recent months intensified attacks on villages in Borno and 
neighbouring states.

They have also overrun military bases, killing soldiers and carting away 
weapons.

Late on Friday, a woman allegedly detonated explosives strapped to her body 
at a haunt for vigilantes and local hunters assisting the Nigerian military 
in fighting "jihadists" in the town of Konduga, the militia told AFP.

"We lost 20 people in the suicide attack which happened yesterday around 9:15 
pm (2015 GMT) while our members were hanging out near the fish market," said 
Tijjani Ahmed, the head of an anti-jihadist militia in Konduga district.

Konduga is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Maiduguri, the capital of the 
northeastern state of Borno.

Surrounding villages have been repeatedly targeted by suicide bombers said to 
be acting for Boko Haram, a group of armed Islamic militants that has been 
active in the area for at least 16 years.

Konduga town itself had seen a lull in such attacks in the past year.

"Eighteen people died on the spot, while 18 others were injured. Two more 
died in hospital, raising the death toll to 20," Ahmed said.

Sixteen were wounded, with 10 of them nursing severe injuries in two 
hospitals in Maiduguri, he said.

- Crowded fish market -

The dead were buried in a mass funeral on Saturday, an AFP reporter saw.

Corpses wrapped in white cloths -- some covered in bamboo mats -- were laid 
out in rows on the ground on wooden biers ahead of the burial.

"The young men who lost their lives are those who, day and night, suffer 
while checking people entering and leaving the town," said 35-year-old 
Konduga resident Ali Kyari, who lost a brother.

"I was with him. It wasn't even 30 minutes after we parted ways when God took 
his soul in that suicide attack," he said.

The alleged bomber was dressed as a local heading to the crowded nearby fish 
market.

She detonated her explosives as soon as she reached the shed used by the 
militia fighters as a hangout, said militia member Ibrahim Liman.

He gave the same toll as Ahmed.

Borno state police spokesman Nahum Daso told AFP that 10 bodies had been 
recovered from the "suicide attack".

He said the toll could be higher as "details are sketchy".

Konduga's fish market, which is usually busy at night, has been the target of 
a series of suicide attacks in the past.

"I was in the market to buy fish for dinner when I heard a loud bang some 
metres behind me," Konduga resident Ahmed Mallum said.

"I was flung to the ground and I couldn't stand. I just lay down," Mallum 
said.

The conflict between the authorities and Boko Haram has been ongoing for 16 
years.

In that time, more than 40,000 people have died and around two million have 
been displaced from their homes in the northeast, according to the United 
Nations.

The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a 
regional military coalition to fight armed militant Islamic groups.