This is for the wimps who suck up to Muslim scum: In Nigeria more than 90% of the suicide bombers are young girls, according to the United Nations.

Wall Street Journal - Boko Haram Raid Hits as Nigeria Pursues Peace Talks. Local official says at least 20 are dead after the attack on a military base and villages near a regional capital.

By Joe Parkinson and Gbenga Akingbule

Updated April 2, 2018

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria—Boko Haram insurgents launched coordinated assaults on a Nigerian military base and villages close to this regional capital on Monday, a brazen operation that left at least 20 people dead just weeks after the government confirmed it was in talks with a breakaway faction of the extremist group.

The dawn raids—which saw insurgents deploy suicide bombers, mortars and truck-mounted machine guns—sparked a protracted battle with Nigerian soldiers at a military base on the edge of Maiduguri, an army spokesman said. Local officials, still tallying the dead and injured Monday afternoon, said the jihadists were attempting to infiltrate the city.

The attack left at least 20 people dead and 63 injured, according to Kashim Shettima, the governor of surrounding Borno State. “We will continue to intensify our efforts to safeguard lives and properties,” Mr. Shettima said. “Terrorists bask in the oxygen of publicity, they are aiming at soft targets and senselessly opening fire on innocent citizens, but we will stop them.”

The brazen operation came after Nigeria’s government revealed it was in peace talks with a Boko Haram breakaway faction allied with the Islamic State terror group and led by a mysterious young commander called Abu Musab al-Barnawi.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack, but analysts said it was likely to be a rival Boko Haram faction operating around Maiduguri. That faction, led by Abubakr Shekau, has dramatically expanded suicide bombings against soft targets in the past year. More than 90% of the bombers are young girls, according to the United Nations.

The Monday attack came after a multiple suicide bombing on Friday, where four teenage girls killed 18 people in Zawuya, another settlement on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

The strikes spotlight the challenges of negotiating with one wing of a decadelong insurgency that has left more than 20,000 people dead.

“The attack buttresses questions regarding the scope, credibility and prospects of the negotiations,” said Nnamadi Obasi, with the International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution think tank. “Moreover, the fact that the insurgents could strike so close to Maiduguri again underscores the continuing fragility of the security situation in much of the northeast.”

Boko Haram launched its uprising against Nigeria’s secular government in 2009, furious over the police execution of its spiritual leader. Since then, the government has extended—and at times retracted—peace offers, repeatedly struggling to establish credibility with the evolving Islamist insurgency.

In recent months, a series of successful hostage negotiations has seeded confidence between the government of Africa’s most populous nation and some of the jihadists, after years of broken agreements. Officials involved in the talks say the negotiations—which call for a preliminary ratcheting down of airstrikes and suicide bombings—have gone far beyond any other attempts.

There are reasons to be skeptical of the talks. Some senior officials in Nigeria’s military and intelligence service are opposed to any deal with a terror group that has forced millions from their homes, while the fragmentation of the group could complicate efforts to hammer out an enforceable cease-fire.

Military officials said Monday’s strikes were remarkable in their tactical ambition.

Residents in Maiduguri reported hearing at least five explosions and sounds of gunfire coming from the Cashew Plantation area on the edge of the city.

The insurgents scaled part of a nearly 20-mile trench that had been dug in the sand circling the city to stave off Boko Haram suicide and gun attacks. They then attacked troops on the other side.

One soldier was among the dead, the army said in a statement, which added it had killed six insurgents and “neutralized” seven suicide bombers.

“I thought I wouldn’t escape alive when the suicide bombers attacked. Many were killed but I narrowly escaped into the bush,” said Maiduguri resident Modu Mallm.

Write to Joe Parkinson at joe.parkinson@wsj.com