Four suicide bombers kill 12 in Nigeria

Twelve people were killed Wednesday evening after four suicide bombers struck in the regional capital of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria, officials told AFP.

Two men and two women blew themselves up in the Muna neighbourhood at around 1700 GMT, the chief security officer of Borno State's emergency response agency, Bello Dambatta, said.

"The total people who died in these four suicide bombings is 12, 16 including the bombers," he told AFP. "Twenty-two people were taken to the Borno State Specialist Hospital for treatment to various injuries."

The first suicide bomber blew himself up among people conducting an evening prayer, killing seven, Dambatta said.

A suicide bomber then entered a house before setting off explosives, killing a pregnant woman and her child. The other two suicide bombers blew themselves up before reaching their targets, he added.

The Islamist extremists of Boko Haram have carried out a eight-year campaign of violence in Nigeria's northeast killing at least 20,000 people.