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Dozens reported killed by car bomb in Nigeria

Security forces blame Boko Haram for explosion in city of Maiduguri, a week after deadly attacks in Abuja and Bauchi.  updated: 01 Jul 2014

Dozens of people have been reported killed in a car bomb attack in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri. Security officials blamed Tuesday's blast near a busy market on the armed group Boko Haram, which was formed in the city. Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Abuja, said the explosives were hidden inside a vehicle carrying charcoal and wood, according to witnesses. One witness said the bomb went off just after the market opened at 8am before most traders or customers had arrived Witnesses told the AP news agency they saw up to 50 bodies, and that five cars and some tricycle taxis were set ablaze by the explosion, Boko Haram is suspected of detonating several bombs in the last week in Nigeria. They include the bombing of a shopping centre in Abuja, which killed 24 people; a bomb at a medical college in northern Kano city, which killed at least eight; and an attack on a hotel brothel in northeast Bauchi city that killed 10. The group has attracted international condemnation since its April abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from a northeastern town, many of whom remain captive.