A bomb attack on a packed market in northeastern Nigeria killed around 50 people on Tuesday, sources said.
The explosion struck at around 1.30 p.m. local time in the town of Sabon Gari in Borno State, which is the heartland of the militant group, Reuters reported.
The attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, although no group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.
“So far, 52 people are injured, 47 dead persons have been removed from the market,” said Umar Kidda, a member of a civilian vigilante group.
Kidda, who witnessed bodies being taken away, said the market was busy when the explosion occurred.
A military source who declined to be named said around 50 people had been killed.
According to sources in the area, the attack was carried out by a female suicide bomber who detonated her device.
Boko Haram has killed thousands of people during a six-year armed campaign to set up a state in northeastern Nigeria.
According to a Reuters tally, more than 600 people have been killed in raids and bombings by the insurgents since Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari took office on May 29, promising to crush the group.
At the start of the year, Boko Haram controlled territory about the size of Belgium.
The army said it had pushed the group from most of that area in the last few months with the help of troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon, but there has been a recent resurgence in militant attacks.
