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A Reuters witness heard the three explosions, all coming in a
period of just over half an hour from about midday in a city of
some two million people.
Maiduguri is the state capital of Borno, the heartland of the
militant Islamist group Boko Haram which has long coveted the
city as the capital of an Islamic state they want to carve out
of religiously mixed Nigeria.
A military source said bombs had caused the explosions, with the
first on Baga road near a market and the second at the Monday
market. The location of the third blast was not immediately
known and there was no word on casualties.
"I have counted five ambulances that have evacuated victims from
the scene. Soldiers are shooting in the air and warding off
people at the market," Salisu Yaya, a member of a civilian
task force, told Reuters.
Suspected Boko Haram militants tried to seize the city at the
end of January but were repelled in fighting that killed more
than 100 people.
(Reporting by Lanre Ola in Maiduguri, Issac Abrak and Julia
Payne in Abuja; Writing by David Clarke; Editing by Stephen
Powell)
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