Maiduguri: A female suicide bomber on Saturday blew herself up in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing three people and injuring many others, residents said.


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The incident in the Dala Yazaram area of the city happened a day after at least 55 people were killed in attacks in the northeast, including 28 in Maiduguri on Friday.


A local resident said he saw two female suicide bombers come into the neighbourhood of Dala Yazaram, some six kilometres (four miles) from the city but one of them was stopped by people nearby while the other blew herself up.


"Three people have been killed and many injured. One of the terrorists was arrested before she could detonate," resident Shuaibu Umara, a security guard at a nearby NNPC petrol station, told AFP.


Another witness Kalli Mahdi said bodies of the injured victims had been taken to the hospital.


Mohammed Kanar of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the northeast confirmed the attack, but said details were sketchy.


"There was a bomb blast in Maiduguri this morning. Our men have gone there to evacuate the victims. But I still don't have information on the casualties," he said.


Although no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, the Islamist Boko Haram group is fingered.


Maiduguri has now been hit seven times this month, killing a total of 79 people, according to an AFP tally, underscoring an increased risk to civilians after similar strikes in neighbouring states and near the capital, Abuja.


Yesterday, two separate explosions ripped two Mosques in Maiduguri and nearby Yola, capital of Adamawa state, leaving at least 55 people dead and more than 100 injured.