YOLA, Nigeria (AP) — An official says the toll from a double suicide bombing in a marketplace in northeast Nigeria has risen to 57 dead and 177 wounded.

Yusuf Muhammed, chairman of the Madagali local government, says 120 children are among those wounded when two women suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday at opposite ends of the market in Madagali town.

Officials have blamed Boko Haram Islamic extremists. The explosions occurred on the edge of the group’s Sambisa Forest stronghold, which Nigeria’s military has been bombing ahead of ground assaults. Since the military has dislodged the insurgents from towns and villages this year, they have been attacking soft targets.

Madagali was liberated last year after months in the hands of Boko Haram.</s>MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Two girl suicide bombers killed at least three people and wounded 17 at a market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Sunday, a spokesman for state emergency agency NEMA, Sani Datti, said.

Residents said about nine people had been killed.

Boko Haram Islamists have been waging an insurgency for seven years in the region to try to establish an Islamic state.

The jihadists have frequently targeted crowded areas - such as markets, places of worship and refugee camps - in suicide bomb attacks across northeast Nigeria and in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.

They have killed some 15,000 people and forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

Nigeria’s army has pushed the militant group back to its stronghold in the vast Sambisa forest in the past few months but the group still stages suicide bombings.</s>YOLA, Nigeria — An official says the toll from a double suicide bombing in a marketplace in northeast Nigeria has risen to 57 dead and 177 wounded.

Yusuf Muhammed, chairman of the Madagali local government, says 120 children are among those wounded when two women suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday at opposite ends of the market in Madagali town.

Officials have blamed Boko Haram Islamic extremists. The explosions occurred on the edge of the group's Sambisa Forest stronghold, which Nigeria's military has been bombing ahead of ground assaults. Since the military has dislodged the insurgents from towns and villages this year, they have been attacking soft targets.

Madagali was liberated last year after months in the hands of Boko Haram.</s>Residents said about nine people had been killed.

Boko Haram Islamists have been waging an insurgency for seven years in the region to try to establish an Islamic state.

The jihadists have frequently targeted crowded areas - such as markets, places of worship and refugee camps - in suicide bomb attacks across northeast Nigeria and in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.

They have killed some 15,000 people and forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

Nigeria's army has pushed the militant group back to its stronghold in the vast Sambisa forest in the past few months but the group still stages suicide bombings.</s>MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Two girl suicide bombers died when they exploded Sunday in a crowded area near a market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri, injuring 17 people, rescue officials said.

Survivor Abubakar Musa said he also saw among the victims the bodies of soldiers, who were guarding a nearby electric power installation.

Officials blamed the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group that has staged numerous attacks in Maiduguri, the birthplace of the insurgency.

One bomber appeared no older than 7 and the second about 8 years old, said Abdulkadir Jabo, a civilian self-defense fighter who stopped them from going into the market. "I asked the older girl where she was going but she could not speak Hausa or Kanuri ... and appeared very unsettled, so I turned her back," he told The Associated Press.

Seconds later, she detonated, followed by the younger girl, Jabo said.

Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu identified the bombers as teen-aged girls. Earlier, officials said they were a man and a woman. There was no way to resolve the discrepancies.

Boko Haram has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some are among the many thousands that they have kidnapped over the years.

In a particularly horrific instance, a woman suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint on Nov. 28. The shot detonated her explosives, killing the woman and the baby.

Sunday's blasts occurred near Maiduguri's Monday Market, just weeks after the state government reopened the roads leading to the market. They had been closed for nearly two years over security concerns following previous bombings at the market that killed dozens of people.

On Friday, two women suicide bombers exploded in a market at Madagali, 150 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, killing 57 people and wounding 177 including 120 children.

Since Nigeria's military has dislodged insurgents from towns and villages this year, Boko Haram has been attacking soft targets.

Suicide bombings and attacks on military camps continue, though Nigeria's government claims it has the insurgents on the run. President Muhammadu Buhari declared the Islamic uprising "technically defeated" a year ago. On Friday, he vowed Nigeria's military is working "at slamming the final nail in the coffin of Boko Haram."

The seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis.

Boko Haram, which has one branch allied to the Islamic State group, wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, West Africa's oil giant of 170 million people divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and predominantly Muslim north.</s>MAIDUGURI, Nigeria -- Two suicide bombers died when they exploded Sunday in a crowded area near a market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri, injuring 17 people, rescue officials said.

Survivor Abubakar Musa said he also saw among the victims the bodies of soldiers, who were guarding a nearby electric power installation.

A male and female suicide bomber detonated themselves minutes apart, spokesman Sani Datti of the National Emergency Management Agency said of the attack blamed on the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group. It birthplace is Maiduguri.

The blasts occurred near Maiduguri's Monday Market, just weeks after the state government ordered the reopening of all roads leading to the market. They have been closed for nearly two years over security concerns following previous bombings at the market that killed dozens of people.

 On Friday, two women suicide bombers exploded in a market at Madagali, 95 miles southeast of Maiduguri, killing 57 people and wounding 177 including 120 children.

Since Nigeria's military has dislodged insurgents from towns and villages this year, Boko Haram has been attacking soft targets.

Suicide bombings and attacks on military camps continue, though Nigeria's government claims it has the insurgents on the run. President Muhammadu Buhari declared the Islamic uprising "technically defeated" a year ago. On Friday, he vowed Nigeria's military is working "at slamming the final nail in the coffin of Boko Haram."

The seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis.

Boko Haram, which has one branch allied to the Islamic State group, wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, West Africa's oil giant of 170 million people divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and predominantly Muslim north.</s>Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Two young girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian market on Sunday, killing themselves and one other person and wounding 18 others, sources said.

The girls were "seven or eight", a local militia member in Maiduguri, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP.

The attack was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore the hallmarks of the jihadists, who routinely use women and girls to carry out suicide attacks, often in Borno state, the epicentre of their insurgency.

Borno Governor Kashim Shettima, visiting victims in the hospital, confirmed the toll in the attack.

Maiduguri militiaman Jabo said he saw the girls Sunday immediately before the explosion.

"They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.

"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother," he added.

"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."

Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to northeast Nigeria since they took up arms against the government in 2009.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than two and a half million more displaced by the unrest.

Rights groups say thousands of women and girls have been abducted by the group. In the most infamous incident, in 2014, more than 200 schoolgirls were taken in the remote town of Chibok.

The jihadists have used abducted females as sex slaves and human bombs, while boys are enlisted to fight.

Northeast Nigeria has been buffeted in recent weeks by devastating attacks.

On Friday at least 45 people died and 33 others were wounded in another double suicide attack carried out by female bombers at a marketplace in the town of Madagali.

In October another set of female suicide bombers killed 17 people at a station near a camp for internally displaced persons.

In February 2015, Boko Haram used an eight-year-old to carry out a suicide attack in Potiskum, in Yobe state, and a 10- and 18-year-old pair were involved in a failed July 2014 attack in Funtua, in northwestern Katsina state.</s>Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Two girls, thought to be only seven or eight years old, conducted a double suicide attack in a northeastern Nigerian market Sunday, killing one person and wounding 18, officials said.

The attack in Maiduguri was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore the hallmarks of the jihadist group which often uses women or girls in such operations -- especially in Borno state -- the epicentre of their insurgency.

Borno state governor Kashim Shettima confirmed the toll to journalists while visiting victims in hospital.

The girls were "seven or eight", a militia member in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP, recalling that he saw the attackers immediately before the first explosion.

"They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.

"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother.

"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."

Governor Shettima said he would meet security agents, market officials and civilian vigilantes -- who are assisting the military -- to try and strengthen security at market places.

The second explosion was apparently triggered slightly later as bystanders were helping the wounded.

"We removed 17 people with different degrees of injuries," said Bello Dambatta of the local emergency management agency.

"The mutilated bodies of the two suicide bombers were also evacuated."

Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to northeast Nigeria since they took up arms against the government in 2009.

They are seeking to impose a hardline Islamic legal system on the country's mainly-Muslim north.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than two-and-a-half million more displaced by the unrest.

But the Nigerian military's campaign against the jihadists is increasingly bogged down as it confronts suicide attacks, looting and indiscriminate slaughter.

Rights groups say thousands of women and girls have been abducted by the group. In the most infamous incident more than 200 schoolgirls were taken from the remote town of Chibok in 2014.

The jihadists have used abducted females as sex slaves and human bombs, while boys are enlisted to fight.

Northeast Nigeria has been buffeted in recent weeks by a string of devastating attacks.

On Friday at least 45 people died and 33 others were wounded in another double suicide attack carried out by female bombers, at a marketplace in the town of Madagali.

In October another set of female suicide bombers killed 17 people at a station near a camp for internally displaced persons.

In February 2015, Boko Haram used an eight-year-old to carry out a suicide attack in Potiskum, in Yobe state, and a 10- and 18-year-old pair were involved in a failed July 2014 attack in Funtua, in northwestern Katsina state.</s>Two seven-year-old girls blew themselves up in a suicide bomb attack at a busy market in Nigeria.

One other person was killed while at least 17 were injured in the explosions in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

Officials blamed the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group that has staged numerous attacks in Maiduguri, the birthplace of the insurgency.

Boko Haram has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some are among the many thousands that they have kidnapped over the years.

In a particularly horrific instance, a woman suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint on November 28. The shot detonated her explosives, killing the woman and the baby.

Sunday's blasts occurred near Maiduguri's Monday Market, just weeks after the state government reopened the roads leading to the market. They had been closed for nearly two years over security concerns following previous bombings at the market that killed dozens of people.

On Friday, two women suicide bombers exploded in a market at Madagali, 150 kilometres (95 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, killing 57 people and wounding 177 including 120 children.

President Muhammadu Buhari declared the Boko Haram uprising "technically defeated" a year ago. On Friday, he vowed Nigeria's military is working "at slamming the final nail in the coffin of Boko Haram."

The seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis.

Boko Haram, which has one branch allied to the Islamic State group, wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, West Africa's oil giant of 170 million people divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and predominantly Muslim north.</s>Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri and Daji Sani in Yola

Two bombs detonated yesterday morning by two female suicide bombers at the gate of Maiduguri Market, the biggest market in the Borno State capital, killed three persons and injured 17 others, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have said. The dead were the bombers and one other person yet to be identified.

The incident, which occurred two days after a similar blast in Madagali, Adamawa State left about 45 people dead and 52 others injured, has forced the Borno State Government to convoke a stakeholders’ meeting to find ways of checkmating the resurgence of bombing in the state.

On its part, the Adamawa State Government has drafted over 70 health workers to Madagali to take care of the injured.

According to NEMA officials, the two teenage girls detonated explosive devices strapped around their waists at yesterday, rudely shocking the peace of the biggest market in the troubled state capital.

The officials said the casualty figure could have been higher, had the teenagers not been denied access to the vicinity of the market by eagle eyed security details at the market.

The teenagers were said to have detonated the explosives strapped on them when they were accosted by security details attached to the market. This was said to have resulted in a heavy bang, which left the two of them immediately dead and 18 others injured.

Speaking to journalists at the scene of the explosion, the Commissioner of Police, Borno Command, Mr. Damian Chukwu, confirmed the NEMA officials’ account.

He said only the two suicide bombers died while 18 persons sustained various degrees of injuries, adding that the injured had been taken to Borno State Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri.

Chukwu said: “At about 0850hrs today (Sunday), two suicide bombers detonated IEDs strapped to their bodies by Market Roundabout; 18 persons sustained various degrees of injuries, and are currently at the State Specialist Hospital while only the suicide bombers died in the blast.”

The spokesman of NEMA, Mr. Sani Datti, who had earlier confirmed that only two suicide bombers died in the explosion, later called THISDAY to explain that one of the 17 injured victims of the explosion died in the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has summoned officials of all markets, motor parks, shopping complexes, football fields and other places of public gatherings in Maiduguri to an emergency security meeting with heads of security agencies and the civilian JTF today.

The stakeholders are expected to gather at the Borno Government House in Maiduguri, to discuss how to improve the security of the town and checkmate suicide bombing.

Shettima also visited the scene of ‎the suicide attacks around the market and was at the Accident and Emergency ward of the Maiduguri Specialist Hospital where he commiserated with the survivors.

He was told that three persons among the injured were undergoing emergency surgery at the hospital’s theatre.

The commissioner of police had informed the governor that the suicide attacks were carried out by two women in two close spots, both outside the Maiduguri Market before .

The police commissioner told the governor that beside the two suicide bombers who died on the spot, one other person died among the 18 that were injured in the explosion.

Shettima after the visits said: “ , we will be having an emergency security meeting involving management of all the markets, motor parks, shopping centres, football fields and other attack-prone areas and we will invite the Civilian JTF and of course our security officials so that we cross pollinate ideas and come up with some new measures that will strengthen our existing security structure around markets.

“We have been taking different steps as the insurgents change their ways, we will all meet and come up with measures that will not be made public. This suicide attack is highly unfortunate, I condole and commiserate with the families of the victims. Insha

Allah, we will always do the best we can to prevent this kind of blood bath.”

The governor had in December 2014 ordered the barricade of most markets while youth volunteers under the Civilian JTF ‎were posted to man security around markets in Maiduguri.

This will not be the first time the Market would be targeted by the Boko Haram insurgents, they had at different times in the past used persons who concealed bombs and pretend to be buyers of wares to attack the market.

The Adamawa State government has deployed over 70 health personnel to Michika General Hospital to render health services to victims of bomb blast in Madagali Local Government Area of the state.

Governor Mohammed Bindow disclosed this shortly after an emergency security meeting yesterday attended by all the security chiefs, noting that the meeting was meant to discuss the way forward especially the current security situation in Madagali.

“Government has mandated all medical personnel from that axis to provide health services to the victims, while a team of doctors and nursing students from the state capital have been drafted to the affected area,” he said.

The governor called on good spirited individuals and organisations to donate blood to victims of the bomb blasts who are in need of blood.

According to him, “What is of most importantly needed by the victims in Michika General Hospital is blood. I hereby plead with individuals and organisations to donate blood to the victims of the bomb blasts because some of them have been reported by doctors that they are in need of blood.”

Bindow also directed traditional rulers and political leaders from Madagali Local Government Area to return to their bases and monitor the situation and report back to government on the spot assessment of the bomb blast in the area.

He said issues discussed at the security meeting was a skirmish between the military and the civilians in Ganye Local Government Area of the state and called on citizens to cooperate with the military to address the security challenge in the state.

He said there was a report that Boko Haram insurgents were planning to launch major attacks on citizens especially during this Yuletide periods of Maulu and Christmas, noting that people should cooperate with security agents as they might be searched before attending any function.

Bindow said people should be vigilant especially this Yuletide period and also report every suspicious movement in their localities to the security agencies in the state.
At least three people are killed in two suicide bombing attacks in Maiduguri, Nigeria.