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As many as seven suicide bombers, six of them women, have blown themselves up while trying to attack the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, according to emergency services officials.

Initial reports from Maiduguri had suggested a number of people were killed in the blasts near the Muna camp for displaced people shortly before 11:30pm on Thursday.

But Mohammed Kanar, from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said yesterday there were no civilian or military casualties, as the would-be bombers arrived after the 10pm curfew. “People were indoors. There was no one on the streets,” Kanar, who is NEMA’s northeast coordinator, said.

“None of the six female bombers succeeded in their attacks. They ended up being killed in the explosions.”

A man who dropped them off in his car then tried to ram a military checkpoint was also unsuccessful.

“He died in the process,” said Kanar. Hamed Satomi, from the Borno state emergency management agency, gave a similar account, although he said there were only six bombers. Both organisations were involved in the recovery of the bodies, they said.

The Borno state police had earlier said only one bomber was involved and that he had detonated his explosives among 13 trucks waiting to travel to the east of the state near the Cameroon border.

Victor Isuku, police spokesman, attributed the multiple explosions heard in Maiduguri to soldiers shelling suspected Boko Haram fighters outside the city limits.

The attempted attacks came after the departure of a high-ranking delegation of foreign officials to Maiduguri as part of efforts to secure greater funding to help those made homeless by the conflict.

— AFP