A suspected vehicle bomb exploded on a road near a busy market in Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, causing casualties among travelers and shoppers, according to The Associated Press.
Sadiq Abba Tijjani, leader of the Civilian Joint Task Force, told the AP his group recovered at least 56 dead bodies at the blast site, mostly elderly women who sold peanuts and lemon juice at the market.
Tuesday's explosives were hidden under a load of charcoal in a large vehicle, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, the AP reported.
Tijjani added that they managed to identify 21 of the dead but the rest "were either burnt or damaged beyond recognition," according to the AP.
Some officials said only 17 people died in the explosion that ripped through the market early Tuesday, but officials regularly play down the death toll, the AP reported. Stalls, goods and vehicles were reduced to piles of trash. The burnt-out shells of five vehicles and some tricycle taxis marked the site of the explosion.
Witnesses and officials blamed Boko Haram extremists who have been accused of a series of bomb attacks in the West African nation, according to the AP. The group, which attracted international attention with its April abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls, has scaled up its activities in recent months, launching more frequent and deadly attacks.
Boko Haram has adopted a two-pronged strategy this year of bombing urban areas and conducting scorched-earth attacks in northeastern villages where people are gunned down and their homes burned, the AP reported.
Security forces cordoned off the area for five hours but had a hard time keeping people out, even though they warned there could be secondary explosions timed to target rescue efforts, according to the AP.
Maiduguri, a city of more than 1 million people, has suffered from many strikes, the AP reported. In March, twin car bombs killed more than 50 people at a late-night market where people were watching a football match on a big screen.
