Nigeria Boko Haram Insurgency: Female Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 12 in Bauchi State Market Blast

A bomb blast at a cellphone market in Azare town in Bauchi State has killed at least a dozen people, according to witnesses.

No group is yet to claim responsibility for the attack but suspicion is to fall on Islamist militant group Boko Haram after carrying out a wave of attacks on Bauchi State and across Nigeria's northeastern region.

"I was near the market when I heard a loud sound inside. After a while we rushed to the scene of the blast. I saw lots of people in the ground and blood all over the place," local resident Ibrahim Ahmed told Reuters.

"The severed head of the female suicide bomber was later found, and a crowd of boys took it to the front of the Emir's palace and set it on fire," he said.

A hospital official from the town confirmed that six bodies were delivered to the facility and four other people had later died of their injuries.

"I got to the scene immediately after the blast. I saw about 20 bodies just lying in blood. Only one person I noticed that was moving," another witness, Shehu Aminu, told Reuters.

Bauchi State officials and police spokesmen were not available for comment after the attack.

Last month, the Nigerian government declared that a ceasefire had been agreed with the terror group but the militants released a video denying the Nigerian regime's claims.

According to Human Rights Watch, the militants have killed at least 2,053 people since the beginning of 2014, but researchers at the John Hopkins University School of International Studies estimate that 7,000 people have been killed in the 12 months between July 2013 and June this year.