Bomb blast at NE Nigeria bus station 'kills at least 20'

Lagos (AFP) - A bombing at a bus station in Gombe city in northeast Nigeria killed at least 20 people on Monday, the latest violence in the region repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram, the Red Cross said.

"There was an explosion at the Dukku motor park. The Red Cross mobilised with 20 body bags and they have all been exhausted," said Abubakar Yakubu Gombe, area secretary for the Red Cross.

"We are still looking for more bodies among the carnage," he told AFP.

The bomb was planted near a bus that was parked and filling up with passengers, said Mato Yakubu of the National Orientation Agency, a government body responsible for the media.

He said the blast occurred at 10:50 am (0950 GMT) at the station on the outskirts of Gombe city, capital of the eponymous state.

Gombe shares a border with Borno and Yobe state, two of the areas hit hardest during Boko Haram's five-year uprising which has cost more than 13,000 lives.

The Islamists have claimed a number of attacks at bus stations, often targeting people who are heading to Nigeria's mainly Christian south.