Between 10 and 16 people were killed when two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at a crowded market in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, police said on Monday.
“Two female suicide bombers detonated an explosive in Monday market in two different locations killing more than 10, and injured many,” Borno state police spokesman Gideon Jibrin said in a text message.
Goni Abba, a witness at the scene, where two female bombers struck just last Tuesday, killing more than 45, said: “I counted 10 dead bodies and over 20 others have injuries.”
In Maiduguri, witnesses said the first explosion happened as a middle-aged woman tried to enter the market and refused a security check of her bags.
A second woman then tried to get into a nearby shop but as she was denied access detonated her explosives.
Death tolls are notoriously difficult to corroborate in Nigeria and the authorities often downplay numbers.
Borno state police commissioner Clement Adoda said six people were killed, including the two bombers, but one witness said he counted at least 10 dead bodies at the scene.
A source at the Borno State Specialist Hospital said: “We received 16 dead bodies and 25 people with serious injuries.”
Borno, Yobe and neighbouring Adamawa were placed under a state of emergency in May 2013 but the special measures have failed to end the violence.
Boko Haram has seized control of more than two dozen towns in all three states and more than 1.5 million Nigerians have been forced to flee their homes, the United Nations said last week.