22 dead, 28 injured as multiple bomb blasts hit Borno

An eye witness, Idrissa Bana, said the three suicide bombers simultaneously detonated the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on their bodies in the crowded market.

"I came to the night market to buy fish for dinner when I heard a loud bang some meters (yards) behind me and I saw myself on the ground, and before I could pick up myself another one went off then, the third one again", he recalled.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack in city of Maiduguri, capital of the state worst hit by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Damian Chukwu, police commissioner for Borno state, said the attack took place at the market around 20 kilometers from the center of Maiduguri at about 8:00 p.m. Friday. "The Tashan Kifi is an informal market which serves as an eatery, market and also hang-out for residents".

Suicide bombings have continued despite repeated assertions by the government and the military since 2016 to have defeated Boko Haram, which aims to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's northeast. "In all, 22 persons were injured". The war with Boko Haram, which has displaced millions, is entering its ninth year.

The dreaded militant group has stepped up its campaign of suicide bombing by using girls as "human bombs" to carry out suicide attacks in Nigeria.

But suicide attacks and raids persist, with civilians in hard-to-reach rural areas and outlying towns at risk.