Bombings kill 45 in Nigeria

• ‘Woman was carrying explosives on her back, in the same way that babies are carried’
• She manoeuvered her way to the scene of the earlier explosion, says a witness

Abuja: More than 45 people died on Tuesday in twin bomb blasts, including one by a female suicide bomber, at a packed market in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri.

The explosions in the Borno state capital targeted the same Monday Market area where at least 15 people died on July 1 in blast blamed on the Boko Haram militant group. Tuesday’s attack came after the militants seized control of another town in Nigeria’s restive northeast. Health worker Dogara Shehu said he counted more than “45 people killed, some of them completely decapitated” in the Maiduguri blasts in an account supported by another witness.

One senior police officer, who requested anonymity, described the explosion, which happened at about 11am (1000 GMT), as a “powerful bomb”, which was felt across the city. Market trader Usman Babaji said the explosives were hidden in a motorised, three-wheeled rickshaw, which are popular throughout the country.

A second explosion followed moments later as people rushed to the scene of the first bombing to help the injured, witnesses said. Abubakar Bello, who sells chickens near the scene, said the woman was carrying explosives in a wrapper on her back, in the same way that babies are carried.

“She manoeuvered her way to the scene of the earlier explosion,” he said in an account supported by three others.