Deadly Suicide Bomb in Nigeria Reportedly Detonated by 12-Year-Old Girl

A girl believed to be around 12 years old carried out a suicide bomb attack at a market in northeast Nigeria that killed at least 10 people and injured dozens more, witnesses and government officials say.

"She went into the market and headed straight to the grain section. She detonated her explosives in the middle of traders and customers," a man whose relative was among those injured on Tuesday told Agence France-Presse.

The attack came just one day after at least 20 people were killed by other suicide bomb attacks by two teenage girls in the city of Maiduguri — the birthplace of Islamist group Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has not yet claimed responsibility for these latest suicide bombings, but they are similar to other attacks it has committed across the region, including ones perpetrated by young women and girls.

In January, a 10-year-old girl allegedly killed around 20 people after bombs strapped to her body were detonated.

In November, several people were killed at a college in northwestern Nigeria when another female suicide bomber blew herself up there.

Related: Attacks Raise Fears That Boko Haram Is Using Kidnapped schoolgirls as Suicide Bombers

A military bomb expert told the Associated Press that the women and girls in these cases probably do not have control over the bombs as they are likely detonated by someone else using a remote.

Boko Haram, which has declared its allegiance to the so-called Islamic State, has increased its violent attacks in the region — including in neighboring Niger and Chad — especially since Nigeria's new president vowed to defeat them after he came to power in May.

The group has also been kidnapping more young girls across northern Nigeria lately, in addition to the more than 200 they kidnapped last April in Chibok. Many of these women and girls have reportedly been raped repeatedly, possibly as part of the group's efforts to "create a new generation of Islamist militants" in the country.

Since 2009, the group has slaughtered more than 18,000 people in Nigeria, according to the BBC.

Follow Rachel Browne on Twitter: @rp_browne