Fires kill 5 at displaced people’s camps in northeast Nigeria: Official

By Olarewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AA) - A total of five people were killed after fires broke out at two camps for displaced victims of terrorist attacks in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, an official said Sunday.

Yabawa Kolo, head of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), confirmed to Anadolu Agency that three people died when a fire broke out Friday at the Muna Elbadawy Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp and two died in a separate fire at a camp in the Konduga local government area.

Witnesses said people scrambled for safety as the flames spread to other tents.

The causes of the fires could not be immediately determined.

Kolo said state authorities and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have begun distributing aid to IDPs at the affected camps.

The Muna Elbadawy camp is located on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of northeast Borno state and heartland of over a decade of terrorist attacks. The camp in Konduga is about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) away.

Roughly three million people have been displaced from their homes in the country's volatile northeast since terrorist activities began in 2009, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Nigeria