Kano , Nigeria ( CNN ) An explosion late Thursday outside a bus station in the northeast Nigerian city of Gombe ‎killed at least five people and injured more than a dozen others , witnesses said . The explosion outside the Bauchi Motor Park‎ happened around 8:30 p.m. after a woman left her explosives-laden handbag near a bus filling up with passengers . The bus was heading to the central Nigerian city of Jos , 125 kilometers away . `` There has been an explosion just outside the motor park and five people have been killed while more than 12 others have been seriously injured , '' said Adamu Saidu , an employee at the bus station . `` Some of the injured have had their limbs blown off‎ and one of them has had his eye gouged out , '' said Saidu , who was involved in the evacuation of the victims to a hospital . The woman pretended to be going to Jos and lingered around the bus , which was ‎waiting to fill up with passengers , according to Falalu Tasiu , a grocer near the bus station . `` The woman kept talking on the phone and dropped her bag beside the bus , pretending to be waiting for the bus to fill up , '' Tasiu said . `` She moved towards shops overlooking the bus station as if she was going to buy something and disappeared . Moments later the bag exploded and set the bus on fire , killing five people and inujuring around 15 others , '' Tasiu said . Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attack , Boko Haram Islamists have repeatedly carried out suicide and bombing attacks on bus stations and markets in Gombe and other northern cities , making the group the main suspect . Boko Haram has in recent months been under sustained pressure from sweeping offensives from a four-nation regional alliance of Nigeria , Chad , Niger and Cameroon . The regional offensives have considerably weakened Boko Haram 's capabilities , which has prompted the Islamists to resort to attacks on soft targets such as bus stations , markets and schools . The explosion was the first attack since Nigeria held its presidential election at the weekend , which was won by opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari , who vowed to crush Boko Haram when he assumes office in late May .
Woman leaves explosives-laden handbag beside bus during boarding . - A man is killed and two others injured in a suicide bombing at the entrance to an Iraqi army base near Baghdad.