Boko Haram suspected after teenage suicide bombers kill 30 in Nigeria

Boko Haram is suspected to have orchestrated the attack, in which two female bombers detonated explosives inside a busy marketplace

Two teenage female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a busy market in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and raising fears about growing violence in the city. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Suspicions fall on Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that has led an intensifying insurgency in the region over the last five years. The group is also suspected of having carried out similar bombings in Maiduguri in recent months.

The Nigerian Army drove the group from Maiduguri following its formation there in 2002, but has since struggled to maintain peace and security across the city, which is home to about a million people.

State officials said that two girls dressed in headscarfs entered the marketplace and set off their explosives. The first detonated her bomb and killed about three people. The second girl waited until a crowd gathered and then detonated.

More than 1,500 people have been killed across Nigeria by Boko Haram this year, according to Amnesty International.