Six people were killed in a bomb blast as police searched vehicles at a checkpoint outside the northeast Nigerian city of Damaturu on Monday, Russia Today reported.

"Eight people including two bombers were killed in the explosion," Yobe state police spokesman Toyin Gbadegesin said, adding that two policemen were among the victims.

The explosion happened at about 1200 GMT to the north of the capital of Yobe state, on the main road to Maiduguri in neighboring Borno state.