Boko Haram kills dozens in attack on refugee camp in northeastern Nigeria

Two female suicides bombers blew themselves up in a refugee camp in Dikwa, Nigeria, on Tuesday, killing at least 56 people. The camp is northeast of Maiduguri, Boko Haram’s birthplace.

In the aftermath of the explosions, officials arrested a third female bomber, who gave information about other planned attacks, an official with the Borno State Emergency Management Agency told reporters.

Health and rescue officials said more than 70 people who survived the attack are receiving medical treatment for their injuries. Lack of or poor cell phone service delayed news of the attack until Wednesday. The camp served as home to some 50,000 people displaced by the six-year insurgency that has left 2.5 million people homeless and parts of the country in ruins.

Emergency officials said they buried 51 people on Wednesday and took five others to a hospital in Maiduguri. The attack comes weeks after a four-day attack by the militant group in northern Nigeria, in which children were burned alive.

Boko Haram’s attacks persist in Nigeria and neighboring countries despite Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim in December that the military had “technically” defeated the Islamic militants.

The day after the attack in Dikwa, two more suicide bombers killed more than 10 people and left 40 people seriously injured, including children, in neighboring Cameroon. The attack targeted people gathered for a wake in Cameroon’s Ngechwe village. Gov. Midjiyawa Bakari said the attackers are believed to have come from Nigeria. Authorities also blame similar attacks in neighboring Chad and Niger on Boko Haram.

Last year, Islamic State (ISIS) accepted Boko Haram as a regional affiliate and the Nigerian extremist group renamed itself Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP). Since then, Nigerians have been flooding into Libya to participate in ISIS terrorist training camps, officials say. The Nigerian State Security Service announced on Tuesday the arrest of an ISIS Nigerian recruit, Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa, who authorities said recruited fellow Nigerians to fight for the terrorist group and travel back to Libya for training.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.