Nigeria confirms 14 killed as fire hits IDP camp

Fourteen people were killed Thursday following a fire incident at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno, according to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

Many people were also injured during the incident, described as “extremely horrifying” by Buhari in a statement late Thursday. The fire broke out at an IDP camp in Ngala town of Borno, the epicenter of the 11-year-long violence by terror group Boko Haram.

The president ordered a probe into the incident and a report on how a future occurrence will be averted. At least 200 shelters and roughly over 1,250 people were affected by the fire, said local sources who suspected it was the work of arsonists.

Fire from unknown sources has become common in several Nigeria’s IDP camps over the years. At least 700 shelters were reportedly destroyed by fire in an IDP camp at Mafa local government area of Borno on Tuesday.

On April 28, 2019, at least 140 IDP shelters were also destroyed by fire which engulfed their camps in the same northeastern Nigerian state.