Another Explosion Rocks Kano Line Station

Men inspect a bus following an explosion on the street in Potiskum, Nigeria. Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. A man forced his way onto a bus at a crowded bus station and detonated explosives. Photo: Adamu Adamu/AP

A few hours a bomb blast ripped through a bus in Potiskum, two men blew themselves up after getting off a bus at a busy terminus in Kano, the north's largest city and another frequent Boko Haram target.

The explosion at the Kano Line Station occurred at about 3:40 pm and sent people rushing from the site of the blast, many of them covered in blood.

"I was attending to customers when I heard a loud explosion that shook the building," said one local shopkeeper, who works opposite the terminus.

An orange seller inside the bus station confirmed his account.

"We rushed outside and we saw plumes of black smoke coming from the Kano Line Station," the shopkeeper said. "People and buses were rushing out of the bus station. One bus was splattered with blood and human flesh."

Kano state police spokesman Musa Magaji Majia described the attack as "suicide explosions" by two men after they got off a bus from Wudil, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) away.

"Ten people were killed in the blast and several others were wounded. The area was cordoned off and then bomb experts swept the place for more explosives but nothing was found," he told reporters.

Both bombings again underlined the severe security challenges confronting Nigeria in the run-up to the March elections.

Nigeria and neighbouring armies have claimed major successes in the campaign against the Islamists, but Boko Haram has proved resilient. But promises of an imminent end to the insurgency have proved empty in the past.

President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted that he and his government underestimated the threat posed by the militants in the early days of the insurgency. Now his administration is facing intense domestic and international pressure to hold the vote on March 28, with the United States and others warning against subverting democracy on security grounds.