AKIPRESS.COM - Fifteen civilians were killed in an explosion in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, after troops foiled what the military said was an attempted suicide attack by Boko Haram Islamist militants, AFP reports.

Among the dead was a member of a civilian vigilante group assisting soldiers in their attempt to put down the insurgency, which has claimed more than 1,500 lives this year alone.

Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said the blast in Mulai, on the outskirts of Boko Haram's spiritual heartland, Maiduguri, destroyed eight vehicles. "Six of the terrorists died while one has been arrested," he added in a statement, describing it as a "suicide attack".

The military had said earlier that soldiers "demobilised" three out of four explosives-laden cars that the militants were planning to explode at a petrol station. But a blast then ripped through the area, killing four Boko Haram fighters and wounding five soldiers.

Initial reports indicated that the troops stationed at the checkpoint on the Maiduguri-Damboa road were the target. But eyewitnesses later said the attackers were trying to speed through the checkpoint so they could set off the blasts at the petrol station, which was backed up with vehicles because of fuel shortages that have hit the country.

Boko Haram was blamed for a series of blasts in Maiduguri last week that left at least five police officers and three civilians dead. The group has repeatedly attacked the security services during an uprising aimed at creating a strict Islamic state in northern Nigeria.