A young girl detonated a suicide bomb at a security checkpoint outside a market in Potiskum, Nigeria on Sunday, Reuters reports. Five people were killed and dozens more wounded.

According to Reuters, two witnesses described the bomber as a "small girl" and estimated that she was not more than eight years old.

"(She) refused to be checked at the gate to the market and an argument ensued," one witness, Ibrahim Maishago, told Reuters. "She let off the bomb, killing herself and five others, while many were injured."

"So far, five people were killed with the girl while 19 others have been taken to hospital for injuries," local vigilante leader Buba Lawan told Agence France-Press. AFP confirmed the toll with a hospital worker.

"We sent her back four times, because given her age, she did not have anything to do in the market," Lawan said. "When we were screening people, she bent and tried to pass under the ropes, some distance from our view. That was when the explosives went off."

This is the latest in a series of suicide attacks in which children have been used, AFP reports. Previous bombings were blamed on Boko Haram. According to Reuters, however, no one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.

[Photo credit: AP Images]