Abuja, November 25 (RHC)-- Two bomb blasts have left at least 45 people dead in a crowded market in the city of Maiduguri in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno. On Tuesday, two bombers set off their explosives in Borno state’s capital city of Maiduguri, the Takfiri militant group Boko Haram’s stronghold, officials said.

Witnesses said the second explosion followed the first after a crowd of people rushed to help the victims. Police and rescue workers have been sent to the heavily-populated area. More than 45 people were killed in the blasts with “some of them completely decapitated,” confirmed health worker Dogara Shehu.

Officials said two teenage girls carried out the attacks. This comes as Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists, who are active in northern Nigeria, seized the town of Damasak in Maiduguri’s northern region on Monday.

An unknown number of people were killed during the violent clashes between the insurgents and government troops near the border with Niger.

Boko Haram militants have already seized more than two dozen towns in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, raising fears about a potential loss of government control in the region.