Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast at Gomboru market in Maiduguri, Borno State in northeastern Nigeria on July 31, 2015. (AFP Photo)
Six people were killed today in a suicide bomb blast in a market in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, a vigilante and a witness said.
"We took seven dead bodies, including that of the female bomber to the hospital. Eight other people were injured and are now receiving treatment," Babakura Kolo, a vigilante, told AFP.
"Two cars and a tricycle were badly damaged in the blast," he said.
His account was corroborated by another witness, a grocer in the market.
"I took part in the rescue operation. We loaded six dead bodies as well as the mutilated body of the bomber into a van which took them to the Maiduguri Specialist Hospital," said the witness who demanded anonymity.
"Eight other people injured in the blast were also taken to the same hospital," he said.
The market attack came on the day the newly-appointed head of the regional multinational force, Major General Iliya Abbah, formally took over.