At least 22 people were killed on Friday evening when several explosions rocked the northern Nigeria's Kano city, hospital and police sources told Xinhua on Saturday.

A competent police source told Xinhua that over 20 bodies have been deposited in various hospital in the state.

Another source at the state hospital confirmed that over 20 dead bodies have been deposited.

Several persons were feared dead and many others sustained serious injuries following coordinated attacks on police and other security agency formations in Kano on Friday. The attacks are believed to be the handwork of members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

State zonal police spokesperson Aminu Gusau told reporters that a similar attack was carried out at the state command of the State Security Service (SSS) and the passport office of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

He said a suicide bomber crashed a car into the premises of the Assistant Inspector General of police office and detonated the bomb. The suicide bomber died instantly, he added. According to him, two policemen also died in the attack. At the SSS office when another suicide bomber entered the gate, operatives on duty opened fire on him before he detonated the bomb and he also died on the spot. Series of explosions were heard near the state police command more than two hour after the initial coordinated attacks. The explosions took place simultaneously in all the affected places.

Meanwhile, the state government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on the state following series of bomb attacks in the state capital on Friday.

State commissioner for information Umar Faruk said the measure was necessary following the bomb explosions in several parts of Kano metropolis. According to him, the measure was also necessary in view of the security situation in the state. A reporter with a television station reportedly lost his life during a gun battle between the police and the gunmen at the Farm Center Police station. The reporter was shot dead while taking pictures of property damaged in the bomb attack at the police station.

Spokesperson for Boko Haram, Abdu Qaqa said last night that the sect was behind the coordinated attacks because the state government refused to release its members who were arrested for alleged robbery.

The attack came barely few days after the escape of the alleged mastermind of the 2011 Christmas day bombing in Madalla, a suburb of north central Niger State.

The Nigerian government recently declared a state of emergency in parts of the country in a bid to curtail the menace of the group, which on Christmas Day bombed St.Theresa's Catholic Church, Madalla, near Abuja. Over 40 worshippers and passers by died in that incident.

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