Cameroon soldiers kill 27 Boko Haram fighters across border

“But she was also frightened of going against the instructions of the men who brought her to the camp”, the vigilante, Modu Awami told AP.

Strapped with a booby-trapped vest and sent by Boko Haram to kill as many people as possible, the young teenage girl tore off the explosives and fled as soon as she was out of sight of her handlers.

Local self-defense forces later came across the girl, who is now in custody and has provided security forces with information about other planned attacks, leading them to lay on extra security at the refugee camp. Eyewitnesses said the two bombers detonated their improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at a kitchen in a refugee camp.

A local official told the BBC that the injured casualties were over 60, many of whom are in critical condition.

“Suicide bombing suspected to be by Boko Haram killed 58, injured 78 in an IDP [Internally Displaced Persons] camp in Dikwa Borno State”, the agency tweeted on Thursday morning without giving further details.

Meanwhile, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the United States have condemned the attacks on the IDP camp in Dikwa, Borno State, on Tuesday.

Usman spoke at a news conference where he also reported that in recent days the military has killed 35 extremists and rescued about 300 civilians held by Boko Haram.

Last week, troops raided the three Boko Haram strongholds, killing more than 100 fighters and freeing more than 1,000 people – including more than 100 women kidnapped and used as sex slaves by the insurgents, said the military source on anonymity.

 In December 2015, the Buhari administration announced its aim to return internally displaced people to their homes this year.

The Boko Haram insurgency has left at least 17,000 people dead and forced more than 2.6 million from their homes in almost seven years of violence that has also spread to neighbouring countries.

Last month, suicide bombers tried but failed to get into one of the largest camps near Maiduguri after an attack nearby that killed 85.

Boko Haram is a militant Islamic group working in Nigeria and the border areas of Chad and Cameroon; its objective is to institute Sharia, or Islamic law.