Car bomb hits Nigeria's Kano

At least five people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in the north Nigerian city of Kano on Sunday, the city's police commissioner Adelere Shinaba said.

"At about 2200 (2100 GMT), we heard an explosion and immediately mobilized to the scene where we discovered a suicide bomber... five people, including the bomber, were killed," Shinaba told reporters. He added that the victims were "three men and a girl of about 12."

The commissioner said the car exploded before the bomber reached his target area, a street lined with restaurants and bars in the busy Sabon Giri district of the city, which is mostly inhabited by Christians. Shinaba said it was too early to say who was responsible for the attack.

The attack comes one day after local government elections were held in Kano as well as one day after Nigeria and its neighbors announced a regional response to the threat by Islamist militant group, Boko Haram.

The action plan was made in the wake of last month's abduction of more than 200 school girls in northern Nigeria's Borno state. The Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls has galvanized international support to find the abducted school girls.

Boko Haram has led a five-year uprising in Nigeria which has cost thousands of lives. The group has vowed to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, which is predominantly Muslim.

hc/crh (Reuters, AFP, AP)