Explosives strapped to two girls blew up Monday near a crowded mosque in northeast Nigeria’s biggest city, killing about 30 people, witnesses said.
It was the fourth suicide bombing this month in Maiduguri, the birthplace of the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.
A witness said explosives on one teenager blew up as she approached the mosque, which was crowded with people who were saying afternoon prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.
The second teen appeared to run away and the explosives blew up at a distance, killing only her, he said.
A civilian defense fighter, Sama Ila Abu, said he counted at least 30 bodies as he helped to collect the dead.
Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of girls and women, and the number of female suicide bombers has raised fears that it is using the captives in its cam-paign.
A military bomb disposal expert has said most bombs carried by girls and women have remote detonation devices, meaning the carrier cannot control the explosion.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since Nigeria’s new President Muhammadu Buhari announced the military command center is moving from the capital of Abuja to Maiduguri in Borno State.
The attacks come as Nigeria and its neighbors are preparing to strengthen a multinational army that this year drove Boko Haram out of the towns and villages where it had set up what it called an Islamic caliphate.
But bombings and hit-and-run attacks have continued, along with cross-border raids.
On Thursday, a group of the extremists attacked two towns in neighboring Niger, killing at least 40 people, the government said.
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