BAUCHI, Nigeria -- Two teenage female suicide bombers blew themselves up Tuesday in a crowded market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing at least 30 people, according to witnesses and a security official.
Boko Haram, Nigeria's Islamic extremist rebels who have carried out many similar attacks, are suspected in the bombing. At least 1,500 people have been killed by the militants' insurgency this year, Amnesty International has said.
The two girls, dressed in full hijabs, entered the busy marketplace and detonated their explosives, said Abba Aji Kalli, the Borno state coordinator of the Civilian Joint Task Force.
The first set off her explosives and killed about three women, Kalli said.
When others gathered around the scene, the second bomber screamed and blew herself up, killing about 30, he said.
"I am right here at the scene, and I have before me 11 corpses ... many have been taken away by relatives, while others are taken to the state specialists' hospital," Kalli said.
Soldiers and police officers cordoned off the area while rescue workers helped survivors to the hospital. Nigeria's police have not yet issued a statement on Tuesday's blasts.
The bombing was the first in Maiduguri since July 2, when 56 people were killed in the same market area when a car bomb hit a group of traders and shoppers.
Maiduguri is the provincial capital and largest city in Borno state, one of the three states in northeastern Nigeria that are under a state of emergency because of the extremist violence.
In April, Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls from Chibok, about 78 miles southwest of Maiduguri. More than 200 schoolgirls are still missing, and their plight has aroused international concern.
On Oct. 17, the girls' parents were encouraged when the Nigerian military announced a cease-fire with Boko Haram and said negotiations had begun for the release of the schoolgirls.
Those hopes were quickly dashed when Boko Haram fighters continued attacks and seized several cities and towns across the northeast. In a video statement, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau denied the cease-fire and scoffed at claims of negotiations to release the girls.
Boko Haram still holds many towns in an area covering an estimated 7,700 square miles and has declared the area to be an Islamic caliphate, or state where it is imposing its strict version of Shariah law.
The insurgents want to impose Islamic rule over all Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. Nigeria's 170 million people are about evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.
A Section on 11/26/2014