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A young female bomber, thought to be about 12 years old, killed at least 10 people in an attack in a market in northeast Nigeria, witnesses say, in the second such attack in 24 hours.

 The blast at the weekly market in Wagir in the Gujba district, south of the Yobe State capital Damaturu, occurred at around 11am local time (10:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

"It was a suicide attack by a girl of around 12 years old," Hussaini Aisami, whose relative was among at least 30 people injured by the blast, told AFP news agency.

"She went into the market and headed straight to the grain section. She detonated her explosives in the middle of traders and customers," Aisami said.

The injured from Wagir were taken to the Sani Abachi Specialist Hospital in Damaturu for treatment but others with less serious injuries were released.

A nurse at the hospital, who asked not to be named, confirmed Aisami's account after speaking to other relatives.

Maiduguri bombings

The blast came a day after a girl thought to be aged about 17 killed at least 20 people at a bus station near a fish market in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, when the explosives she was carrying went off.

A girl about the same age was also killed nearby when she blew up, but there were no other casualties.

Both attacks bore the hallmarks of the group Boko Haram, which is stepping up suicide attacks in towns and cities after losing most of an area the size of Belgium in the northeast since the start of the year.

Security analysts studying the phenomenon have suggested that younger girls may have their explosives detonated remotely by a third party.

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people during its six-year insurgency in northeast Nigeria.