Deadly suicide bombing hits Nigerian city

A suicide bomb attack in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri has killed at least six people, police in Borno state say, while medics say at least 16 people were killed in the blast, capping one of the bloodiest weeks yet in the country’s ongoing fight with separatists.

Saturday’s blast, which occurred just days after violence in Borno left an estimated 2,000 people dead, was triggered by a girl suicide bomber who may have been as young as 10 years old, according to Agence France-Presse.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but several reports say signs point to the armed group Boko Haram.

Following the Maiduguri attack, two suicide bombers in nearby Yobe state blew themselves at a police station Potiskum. A death toll for that attack was not immediately available.

Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, has witnessed several bombings as it lies in the heartland of an insurgency by Boko Harem, which wasts to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. The fighters are responsible for the kidnapping of hundreds of school girls over the last year. Many of the children remain missing—some feared married against their will to Boko Haram fighters.

Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in Nigeria's northeast are the hardest hit by the Boko Haram five-year-old insurgency. Last year alone, more than 10,000 people died in the bloodshed.

Last weekend, Boko Haram began razing 16 towns and villages in northern Nigeria, and may have killed up to 2,000 people, according to Amnesty International.

After capturing a key military base in Baga, members of the armed group used crude bombs to level entire towns, according to local authorities.

District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims are children, women and elderly people who could not run fast enough when insurgents drove into Baga, firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles on residents.

Al Jazeera and wire services