More than 65 killed as female suicide bombers attack market in Maiduguri

A female suicide bomber attacked a crowded market in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital on Tuesday, moments after the same spot was bombed, by another suicide bomber. More than 65 people are believed to have died according to hospital sources.

AFP quotes a witness:

“People rushed to offer assistance to the victims (of the first blast) and moments later a second explosion went off”

A spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that “many people have been killed” but did not have an official death toll.

Reports have it that the bombers gained entrance into the city, disguised as one of the internally displaced persons, before hitting the market.

Daily Post quotes Lawal Audu, a civilian JTF as saying that “so many Boko Haram fighters are now in the state capital.

 “They followed the IDPs to come to town. They even slaughtered two people in one of the camps and they have been going about causing havoc in some parts of the state.”

This attack, coming barely 24 hours after the terrorists disguised as traders and attacked a market in Damasak, killing more than 45 people, heightens the fear that it might only be a matter of weeks before Maiduguri fell like other towns currently in the sect’s control. 

Damasak was captured on Monday