DHAKA: A bomb blast in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna has killed at least 25 people.

Nigeria police say, reports the BBC.

The bomb targeted moderate Islamic cleric Dahiru Bauchi who had been travelling in the area, police added.

He escaped unhurt. It is unclear who was behind the blast.

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations in Nigeria since it launched a brutal insurgency in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It often targets Muslim leaders who condemn its militant ideology.

The blast scattered dead bodies and debris on the Alkali Road in the city centre, witnesses told Reuters news agency.

A trader, Yusuf Suleiman, said that he had counted 15 bodies in a police van after the explosion.

BDST: 2007 HRS, JUL 23, 2014