The attack happened in the town of Azare in Bauchi state, which neighbours the three states worst hit by attacks from Boko Haram Islamists.
Residents said a man who had been seen with the woman at the market was killed by an angry mob.
“A suicide bomber came into the market as it was closing and blew herself up in the middle of all the merchants and their customers,” a witness said.
“I saw at least eight dead. Several other people were injured,” another witness, Alyu Habib, told AFP.
“She came in the company of two men and she detonated the explosives concealed under her dress,” he said.
“The two men tried to flee but they were pursued and apprehended. One of them was lynched to death whereas the other is now in custody,” Habib added.
A third witness confirmed that one of the two men spotted entering the market with the woman “was killed by the angry mob”. He said the “explosion set the shops on fire” and firefighters were working to douse the inferno.
The attack near Azare’s stadium is the third bombing in the town in recent weeks.
Last week, a bomb concealed in a bag went off near a cash dispensing machine, killing several people. On October 23, a bombing near a bus station killed at least five people.
