13 dead in triple attacks in Nigeria

At least 13 people have been killed in three blasts in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu as residents prepared to celebrate the Eid festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Sky News reported.

The attacks on Friday, in an area hard hit by the Boko Haram insurgency, came just days before Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari is to meet his US counterpart Barack Obama.

Buhari is expected to push at Monday's meeting for US help to tackle the violence, which has surged since he took office in May.

Residents said two explosions near a prayer ground in Damaturu had killed two people, before a third blast went off moments later near a mosque leaving another 11 people dead, medics said.

They followed a double bombing at a market in the town of Gombe, south of Damaturu, on Thursday evening that killed at least 49 people who were shopping for the Eid celebrations.