Police say an explosion has struck a state medical college in Nigeria's northern city of Kano, killing at least eight people and wounding 12 others.

Aderenle Shinaba, Kano state police commissioner, said one suspect was detained after Monday's blast at the Kano School of Hygiene and his vehicle seized for investigation.

He also said members of the armed group Boko Haram are suspected.

One student said people ran out of the School of Hygiene shouting "Get out! It's a bomb".

It was the third bomb blast in four months in Nigeria's second largest city.

A teacher at the college told AFP news agency that the blast seemed to originate from a car park next to the post-secondary training school.

The latest incident comes less than a week after about 21 people were killed in a bomb blast outside a shop in Yobe state where people had gathered to watch a World Cup match.

Public screenings of the World Cup in some parts of Nigeria have been banned because of threats by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, which aims to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, did not immediately claim responsibility but the school matches its target of Western education.

Boko Haram has attracted international condemnation since April when it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls who remain captive.

Nigeria's government has not succeeded in curbing the armed group's violence.