Scores of people were reportedly killed on Tuesday when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives at a mosque and a market in Mubi, northeast Nigeria, residents said.
“We have evacuated dozens of dead and injured people to the hospital and the rescue operation is still ongoing,” local volunteer Habu Saleh said.
A medical source at the Mubi General Hospital said they had “so far received 37 dead bodies and dozens of injured from the two blast scenes”.
There was no official confirmation of the death toll. Police and government officials in the Adamawa state capital, Yola, were not immediately available for comment.
The hospital source, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the media, added: “The death toll may mount because evacuation is not completed.
“Many of the injured who are in critical condition may not survive.”
Health workers from the hospital mobilised to attend to the victims, despite being on strike over pay and conditions.
Mubi resident Abdullahi Labaran said the first bomber mingled with worshippers who had gathered for prayers at the mosque at the edge of the market.
He detonated his explosives “five minutes before the prayer started” at about 1:20 pm.
The second bomber blew himself up among the crowds of worshippers, traders and shoppers who fled the mosque towards the butchery section of a nearby market.
Mubi is some 200 kilometres (125 miles) by road from Yola.
It has been repeatedly targeted in deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram since it was briefly overrun by the militant group in late 2014.
