Nearly 100 people have been killed in separate attacks carried out by Boko Haram militants since Monday in Nigeria's Maiduguri city and Damasak and Ashigarchi towns, media reports said Tuesday.
According to Xinhua, medicos at a state-run hospital said at least 45 were killed and 15 injured in two blasts Tuesday that rocked the busy market in Maiduguri.
"Some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition," health worker Abu Modu said.
The apparent suicide attack was perpetrated by two women terrorists around 10 a.m. when the market was crowded, witnesses told Nigerian daily Trust.
The noise of the explosion could be heard throughout Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, one of the Nigerian states worst-affected by the violence of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
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No official casualty figures were immediately released but it is believed that the toll could rise.
In separate incidents Monday, Boko Haram militants attacked two places - Damasak and Ashigarchi towns - in Borno state, killing over 50 people and torching buildings, witnesses said.
An earlier report said the attacks in Damasak and Ashigarchi took place Tuesday.
Boko Haram militants in their hundreds again attacked Damasak and Ashigarchi towns in Mobbar local government area of Borno Monday morning, killing over 50 people in Damasak alone, Nigerian daily Leadership reported Tuesday.
Monday's attacks targeted Damasak and Ashigarchi, located close to the border with Niger, in one of the areas considered a stronghold of radical Islamist militia.
At least 50 people were killed in Damasak, according to witnesses, while details of the attack on Ashigarchi could not be known till Tuesday.
In Damasak, hundreds of militants attacked residents and torched homes, shops and security checkpoints.
A state of emergency has been declared in the states of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe due to the large number of attacks carried out by Boko Haram in these northern areas.
Militants of Boko Haram (meaning non-Islamic education is a sin) are fighting to impose Sharia law in Nigeria, a country mostly inhabited by Muslims in the north and by Christians in the south.
Over 3,000 civilians have been killed in violence involving Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014, according to the Nigerian government.
