Twin blasts kill dozens in Nigeria

Two explosions by suspected female suicide bombers hit a crowded market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Monday, witnesses said, reportedly killing scores of people. 

"There were two blasts, all suicide bombers," witness Sani Adamau told Reuters. "While the people were trying to help the injured the second bomb blasted, I saw lots of bodies."

Sources on the ground told Al Jazeera that the blasts had killed more than 60 people. Local authorities had yet to confirm the number of dead and injured.

Maiduguri, the largest city in Nigeria’s Borno State, is a stronghold for Boko Haram, an Islamist armed group that opposes Western education and other influences.

Also on Tuesday, government and security sources told Agence France-Presse news agency that Boko Haram had taken over another town in Nigeria's northeast. The group’s Tuesday offensives come weeks after government officials said that they were negotiating a cease-fire with Boko Haram that has yet to materialize.

Maina Ma'aji Lawan, who represents Borno in Nigeria's senate, said on Tuesday that the group was in control of the town of Damasak near Nigeria's border with Niger.

Nigerian soldiers and hundreds of residents fled across the frontier to seek sanctuary when the heavily armed fighters opened fire on traders on Monday morning, he said.

"There is not a single male in Damasak," Lawan said. "Boko Haram is in control because all males and soldiers have fled."

Boko Haram has seized more than two dozen towns in Borno and neighboring Yobe and Adamawa states, marking a change in strategy from its previous trademark of deadly hit-and-run strikes or high-profile strikes against government, police or military targets.

Boko Haram attacks killed over 100 people in three attacks across Borno State last week. 

Al Jazeera and wire services