Car bomb in Nigeria market kills 19

A car bomb attack that killed 19 people at a busy market has been blamed on Boko Haram militants, police in northeast Nigeria said.

"From the latest tally at our disposal, the death toll stands at 19," Borno state police commissioner Lawan Tanko told AFP on Wednesday.

The military said that Tuesday's blast, on a public holiday when people in the mainly Muslim city were celebrating the birth of the prophet Muhammad, was the work of the banned Islamist group.

Some reports suggested up to 30 people were killed in the explosion but Tanko dismissed the claims.

He said there was no precise figure on the number of injured, as many people had been taken to different hospitals and private clinics.

Tuesday's attack came after suspected Boko Haram gunmen killed five at a village market about 22 kilometres from Maiduguri on Sunday, burning cars, shops and tents storing grain.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest strike but the group previously said it was behind an attack on military targets in Maiduguri in December.

Maiduguri is considered the spiritual home of Boko Haram, which wants to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria and is deemed an international terrorist organisation by the US.