More than 45 people have been killed after two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded market in northeast Nigeria.
The explosions in the Borno state capital targeted the same Monday Market area where at least 15 people died on July 1 in a blast also thought to have been carried out by the Islamist militants.
Tuesday's attacks came after the militants seized control of another town in Nigeria's restive northeast, adding to their increasing haul of territory captured in recent months.
Health worker Dogara Shehu said he counted more than "45 people killed, some of them completely decapitated" in the Maiduguri blasts in an account supported by another witness.
An official with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency confirmed that "many people have been killed" but did not have an official death toll.
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"What we have is a case of suicide bombings involving two females," said a senior security source in the city, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The source told AFP that the first bomber stood by a motorised rickshaw packed with goods in the bustling market and took a call on her mobile phone.
"She then dropped it (the mobile phone) and at that moment she blew herself up, so people thought the bomb was concealed in the rickshaw," he added.
"About 10 minutes later, another woman who looked about 19 and carrying what looked like a baby on her back under hijab arrived at the scene that was crowded by rescuers and locals.
"She then detonated the bomb on her back."
Northern Nigeria has been hit by a wave of suicide bomb attacks by women in recent months, including earlier this month in the northeastern state of Bauchi and Niger state in the northwest.
Analysts have said that Boko Haram is using either willing volunteers or coercing young women and girls into becoming human bombs as part of its strategy to create a hardline Islamic state.
Boko Haram had earlier taken over the town of Damasak, in the far north of Borno near the border with neighbouring Niger, starting their assault with an attack on the market there early on Monday.
Maina Ma'aji Lawan, who represents northern Borno state in Nigeria's Senate, said soldiers and hundreds of residents fled when the heavily armed militants opened fire on traders.
