At least 19 persons have reportedly been killed and 23 others critically wounded after suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers carried out a series of attacks which targeted a civilian self-defence group in Maiduguri on Tuesday.

Police say the attacks which they described as the deadliest in recent months were carried out by teenage suicide bombers who penetrated  the group of unsuspecting civilians and detonated explosive devices strapped on their bodies.

An eyewitness and member of the local vigilante, Bello Umar said one of the teenage suicide bombers crept towards their post at Molai and blew up herself  while another blast occurred near a tea vendor’s spot where some of their boys had gone to take dinner.

“A teenage female suicide bomber actually crept to the sandbag post of our boys at Molai and before they could realize what was happening, she detonated herself and killed three of our boys,” Bello said.

“That happened simultaneously with the one that occurred at the tea vendor’s place, where seven of our members who had taken time off to eat their dinner were killed,” he added.

The Nigerian government had last year declared that Boko Haram, the insurgent Islamist group which has killed more than 20,000 people and abducted thousands, had been technically crushed in north eastern Nigeria, a region which the United Nations has labelled as having the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in more than 70 years.