Many workers who went to collect their monthly salary from a First Bank branch in Azare, Bauchi State, were feared dead when an explosion rocked the bank premises.

Also feared dead in the blast were several workers of the bank.

The blast killed at least 16 people and critically injured 20 people, according to a Daily Trust online report.

“The victims were said to have been at the bank to do transaction using the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) when the explosion occurred,” the report said.

Azare headquarters of Katagum Local Government Area of Bauchi State is not far from the Bauchi town, the capital of Bauchi state.

The paper quoted a security source in Bauchi State as saying: “The incident was a fall out from the Potiskum incident. An eye witness account said someone came with the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and when people suspected that he had something hidden, they tried to stop him but he ignited it. It was the shrapnel that killed the people.”

Daily Trust said that hundreds of workers from Potiskum in Yobe State, Katagum, Shira and Giade Local Governments in Bauchi were expected to collect their salaries through the ATM machine in Azare since the banks in their localities had been burnt down by suspected insurgents.

A similar incident occurred in Azare Motor Park last month.

Just last Monday, a suspected suicide bomber killed more than 20 members of the Shiite sect who were on procession in Potiskum, Yobe State, to mark the Ashura.

Rescue operations are already in progress.