The blast tore through a mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State as worshippers gathered for evening prayers, witnesses say.

Flip-flops belonging to worshippers are seen following a deadly bomb explosion at a mosque in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Thursday.Jossy Ola / AP

An explosion has ripped through a mosque in northeastern Nigeria as worshippers gathered for their evening prayers, killing at least five people and wounding dozens more, police said.

The blast took place at about 6pm on Wednesday (17:00 GMT) in the city of Maiduguri in Borno State, witnesses told the media.

Police said five people died and 35 were injured in the attack, which it said is likely a suicide attack.

"Preliminary investigations further suggest that the incident may have been a suicide bombing, based on the recovery of fragments of a suspected suicide vest and witness statements recorded, while investigations are ongoing to establish the exact cause and circumstances," Nahum Daso, spokesperson for Borno state police command, said in a statement.

Daso said police were conducting a sweep of the area in Maiduguri`s Gamboru market in search of secondary devices.

Mosque leader Malam Abuna Yusuf earlier told the AFP news agency that at least eight people had died in the attack, while a militia leader, Babakura Kolo, put the figure at seven.

Another witness, Musa Yusha`u, told AFP that he saw "many victims being taken away for medical treatment".

The cause of the blast was not immediately known, but it occurred ‍in a ⁠city that has been at the heart of an armed rebellion waged by Boko Haram and ISIL`s (ISIS) offshoot in the region, the Islamic State West Africa Province, for nearly two decades.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the use of suicide bombers has been heavily attributed to Boko Haram.

The conflict in northeast Nigeria has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced about two million from their homes since 2009, according to the United Nations.

Though the violence has waned since its peak about a decade ago, it has spilt into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Concerns are also growing about a resurgence of violence in parts of the northeast, where armed groups remain capable of mounting deadly attacks despite years of sustained military operations.

Maiduguri itself - once the scene of nightly gun battles and bombings - has been calm in recent years, with the last major attack recorded in 2021.