KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — A series of blasts targeting three buses full of passengers in Nigeria’s second city of Kano killed at least 20 people yesterday, a rescue official told AFP.

Initial reports indicated that two suicide bombers rammed a car packed with explosives into a bus at the New Road station in Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian neighbourhood in the majority Muslim city.

Several explosions were heard following the initial blast, sparking panic as bloodied bystanders including some with serious injuries fled the scene as soldiers arrived to cordon off the area.

Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, has been repeatedly targeted by Islamist group Boko Haram, blamed for killing hundreds in the region since 2009.

“I saw three buses on fire. One of them was fully loaded with passengers waiting to leave the station at the time of the blasts. At the moment there are at least 20 dead,” said the rescue official who requested anonymity.

“This figure is not the final toll because we are still conducting rescue and the figure may rise,” added the official, who asked his name be withheld as he was not authorised to speak to journalists.

Mechanic Tunde Kazeem, who works at the targeted New Road bus station, said the explosion was “followed by billows of black smoke and there was a lot of confusion with people rushing out of the motor park, some of them with blood on their clothes”.

While the official confirmed at least two explosions, some residents have reported hearing up to three blasts, in what may have been a coordinated attack that is likely to be blamed on Boko Haram.

The station was attacked in January of last year in a blast which wounded several people and which was blamed on the radical Islamist group.

The security forces were not immediately available to comment on the attack and there has not yet been a claim of responsibility.