Suicide bombers kill 8 in Nigeria

At least eight people were killed after two suicide bombers detonated themselves on Saturday in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, military officials said.

Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the attacks bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram terrorists, who have waged a seven-year-old insurgency, which has killed thousands and displaced over 2 million people.

In one attack a woman blew herself up in front of the Bakassi camp for displaced persons on Maiduguri's outskirts, killing five men and wounding 11 women, the army said in a statement.

At about the same time another female suicide bomber blew herself up while trying to enter a fuel depot of state oil firm NNPC, killing three persons, the army said.

Residents reported seeing bodies being carried into an ambulance by government emergency services.

Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army, aided by troops from Niger, Cameroon and Chad, have recaptured most of the territory.

The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.