Many people were feared dead following a bomb explosion at the Magasurku Filling Station in Hotoro area of Kano metropolis on Friday.

A witness said that the explosion occurred at 7.20p.m., adding that many people buying fuel at the station sustained injuries.

The witness said there were sporadic gunshots after the explosion, which threw the area into confusion and for many residents to run for safety.

JTF spokesman, Capt. Eze Ekechukwu, confirmed the incident.

Six persons, including three policemen, were killed in what was suspected to be a Boko Haram suicide attack at the petrol station, police said on Friday.

“A man driving a Toyota Sienna drove into the filling station as if he was going to buy fuel. The vehicle exploded causing six deaths, including three policemen,” the Kano state police commissioner Adelenre Shinaba told reporters.

“It is obviously a suicide attack,” he said of the blast in the Hotoro area of the city and blamed “the terrorists we’ve been battling”, referring to Boko Haram Islamists.

The blast happened at about 7:30 pm (1830 GMT), causing a fire that engulfed the facility and set cars ablaze.

The petrol station is opposite the scene of a July 28 suicide attack by a female bomber and is used as a base by a military unit that patrols the area, indicating troops may have been the target.

The soldiers park their patrol vans inside the petrol station at night, from where they coordinate their operations, local residents said.

The July 28 blast saw a woman detonate low-calibre explosives also at a petrol station, targeting women who had lined up to buy kerosene, police said at the time.

At least three women died. The attack, and a second about three hours later in which another female bomber blew herself up outside a shopping complex, were blamed on Boko Haram militants.

The double bombings were among five to hit Kano in a week, forcing the authorities to cancel celebrations for the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Before then, Kano had seen a decline in Boko Haram attacks.

Friday’s blast destroyed two military vehicles and left a wide crater in the ground, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

The fire service were able to douse the flames before it reached a fuel truck, which witnesses had earlier claimed was rammed by the car and exploded as it was delivering its cargo.

One witness, Yusuf Mamuda, said fire flew in all directions and enveloped the whole filling station, adding: “It is a miracle if anyone inside survived.”

Mamuda himself sustained burns to his leg.