Boko Haram suicide bombers kill at least 20 in market attack

Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked a camp for internally displaced people and a nearby market in a northeastern Nigeria village Tuesday, killing at least 20 people, a local official said Tuesday.

Village chief Lawan Kalli said Tuesday at least three suicide bombers entered Mandarari's market around 5 p.m. local time posing as buyers, then an undetermined number went to the nearby camp for people displaced by Nigeria's conflict while at least one stayed at the market. They all detonated their explosives almost simultaneously, he said.

"Our village is right at the entrance into Konduga town and that is where both the camp and the makeshift market are situated, which made us an instant target point of the insurgents," Kalli said.

At least 80 people were injured and were rushed to the hospital in Maiduguri, a town about 30 kilometres away, he said.

Musa Bura, a youth volunteer in nearby Konduga town, said most members of the local defense force were on guard at the market and not the nearby camp.

"The suicide bombers came, three in number. One went into the camp and detonated and almost immediately everywhere turned into disarray, and in the confusion, the two other suicide bombers detonated in the market," he said.

The death toll will likely rise, he predicted.

Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency has displaced millions in Nigeria and neighbouring countries and has killed more than 20,000 people.

The Islamic insurgents also staged attacks late Monday that killed seven people in the communities of Nyibango and Muduhu in the Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa, said the chairman of the Madagali Local Government Council, Yusuf Muhammed.