Nigeria suicide bombings

Tuesday's attacks in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri killed several people, with estimates from witnesses and health officials placing the number of dead between 30 and 45. Both of the bombings appear to have been carried out by women.

According to witnesses interviewed by news agencies, the first suicide bomber walked into the crowded market and detonated her explosives. Her proximity to a fully-loaded rickshaw led to initial speculation that the explosives had been in the rickshaw itself. This killed about three people.

As a crowd gathered around the site of the first explosion, the second bomber then set off her explosives. Some witnesses reported that the second woman had wrapped up the explosives on her back, making it appear that she was carrying a baby using a common method in the area.

In July, a deadly attack that rocked the same market in Maiduguri was blamed on the Boko Haram militant group, which has been held responsible for similar attacks in Nigeria and will likely be blamed for Tuesday's blasts.

Boko Haram is accused of having killed more than 5,000 civilians in the course of an insurgency that began in 2009. More than 2,000 have been killed this year alone, while nearly 650,000 have been displaced.

The Nigerian government has been waging a 5-year war against the terror group, which seeks to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

mz/ksb (Reuters, AFP, AP)