At least five people were killed by a pair of female suicide bombers in northeast Nigeria, authorities said Friday.

Borno state police said two women detonated bombs strapped to themselves Thursday night in the Konduga area, “killing themselves and five others.”

“Six persons sustained various degrees of injuries,” police spokesman Murtala Ibrahim added in a statement about the attack.

Terrorist group Boko Haram has increasingly used girls and young women to carry out attacks in marketplaces and checkpoints.

Over the past seven years, Boko Haram violence has displaced more than two million people and killed at least 20,000, according to the United Nations.

The militant group has recently stepped up attacks after a lull that lasted months due to a leadership struggle.

Since Boko Haram first took up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009, trade routes and farming activity have been disrupted.
…