A suspected Boko Haram suicide bomb attack has killed at least 22 Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Maiduguri in north-east Nigeria.
Rescue officials said two female suicide bombers were believed to have carried out the attack, which saw 17 other people injured.
One bomber blew herself up inside the mosque and the second did so outside as survivors of the first blast tried to flee.
Umar Usman, a worshipper who avoided the blast because he was late arriving to pray, told journalists
“We were just a few meters away from the mosque when a loud bang erupted and all we could see was dark smoke and bodies littered around.”
Co-ordinator Abba Aji, of the civilian self-defence Vigilante Group, said the mosque was in Umarari on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the command centre for the Nigerian army’s military campaign against the
Boko Haram group.
The insurgency is known for its use of female suicide bombers, and several suicide bombers have blown themselves up in recent months at roadblocks near the city.
Those attacks suggest the authorities have until today been successful in keeping militants away from crowded areas.
The last major Boko Haram assault on Maiduguri took place on 28 December, when Islamists armed with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers attacked indiscriminately, killing at least
50 people.