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More than 45 dead in Nigeria bombings

– Boko Haram suspected –

Boko Haram will likely be blamed for the blasts, given that it has attacked Maiduguri dozens of times during its five-year fight to create a hardline Islamist state in northern Nigeria.

The Islamist group was founded in Maiduguri more than a decade ago and the city was once the epicentre of the conflict until its fighters were pushed out into more rural parts of the northeast.

Since May 2013, when a state of emergency was imposed in Borno and two neighbouring states, violence has increased in the countryside, killing thousands and forcing many more to flee. READ: Boko Haram kills 48 fish vendors in northeast Nigeria.

Boko Haram had earlier taken over the town of Damasak, in the far north of Borno near the border with neighbouring Niger, starting their assault with an attack on the market there early Monday.

Maina Ma’aji Lawan, who represents northern Borno state in Nigeria’s Senate, said soldiers and hundreds of residents fled when the heavily armed militants opened fire on traders.

“There is not a single male in Damasak. Boko Haram is in control because all males and soldiers have fled. No one expects women to fight them,” Lawan told AFP by telephone from Abuja.

A senior security source in Maiduguri and a senior local government official both corroborated Lawan’s account, although it was still unclear how many were killed in the attack.

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