Maiduguri is home to some 2 million people. It is the capital and the largest city in Borno state - the heartland of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

According to the news agency AFP, the first attack was carried out by a female suicide bomber at the Baga fish market at roughly 11:20 a.m. (1020 GMT).

About an hour later, a bomb blast hit the popular Monday market. It was not immediately clear whether the second attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, the news agency AFP reported.

The first two attacks were confirmed by Borno Justice Commissioner Kaka Shehu.
Shortly after, Shehu confirmed a third bombing at the busy Borno Express bus terminal in Maiduguri, AFP reported, but details were not immediately available.

The bombings killed at least 50 people. More than 30 others were injured, said a senior hospital official in the Borno state capital.

No responsibility claimed yet

No one claimed responsibility, but the attacks bear all the hallmarks of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.

Multinational force to combat Boko Haram

Boko Haram also has attacked villages in Cameroon and Niger, as Nigeria's neighbors are forming a multinational force to confront the spreading Islamist uprising.

Chad's president, Idris Deby, said this week that his forces know the whereabouts of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and warned him to surrender.

Boko Haram fighters are massing at their headquarters in the northeastern town of Gwoza, in preparation for a showdown with multinational forces, according to witnesses who escaped from this town.

Suspected Boko Haram militants tried to seize the city by the end of January but were repelled in fighting that killed more than 100 people.

About 12,000 people have died in the nearly 6-year-old Islamist uprising in northeastern Nigeria.

ra/sms (Reuters, AFP, AP)