Maiduguri, Nigeria:
Twin blasts rocked a densely-populated area of the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Sunday, the stronghold of Boko Haram Islamists, locals said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The first explosion took place in the restive city's Binta Sugar area on Sunday evening and was followed by a second blast a few minutes later, resident Kamilu Musa told AFP.
"We heard the first sound around 7:40 pm (1840 GMT) shortly before we entered the mosque for the last prayers of the day," said Musa, who lives in the nearby Bulunkutu neighbourhood.
"I later gathered the bomb blast occurred at Binta Sugar," he said.
A few minutes later, another bomb went off in the same area.
Local resident Ndahi Mache confirmed the explosions.
"There was serious fireball after the second explosion," he said.
It was not clear if there were any casualties but police, soldiers and civilian vigilantes have cordoned off the area, witnesses said.
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and the birthplace of Boko Haram, has been the epicentre of the six-year-old insurgency of the hardline Islamist group.
Boko Haram which seeks to carve out an Islamic state in the mainly-Muslim northeast Nigeria has killed at least 150,000 and displaced more than two million people since 2009.
A regional multi-national force involving 8,700 troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin is due to deploy to fight the extremists.
The first explosion took place in the restive city's Binta Sugar area on Sunday evening and was followed by a second blast a few minutes later, resident Kamilu Musa told AFP.
"We heard the first sound around 7:40 pm (1840 GMT) shortly before we entered the mosque for the last prayers of the day," said Musa, who lives in the nearby Bulunkutu neighbourhood.
"I later gathered the bomb blast occurred at Binta Sugar," he said.
A few minutes later, another bomb went off in the same area.
Local resident Ndahi Mache confirmed the explosions.
"There was serious fireball after the second explosion," he said.
It was not clear if there were any casualties but police, soldiers and civilian vigilantes have cordoned off the area, witnesses said.
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and the birthplace of Boko Haram, has been the epicentre of the six-year-old insurgency of the hardline Islamist group.
Boko Haram which seeks to carve out an Islamic state in the mainly-Muslim northeast Nigeria has killed at least 150,000 and displaced more than two million people since 2009.
A regional multi-national force involving 8,700 troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin is due to deploy to fight the extremists.
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