Attacks targeting authorities in two major cities of Nigeria's troubled north have left two suspected suicide bombers dead and killed three others, authorities said Monday.

Simultaneous suicide bomb attacks Monday in the major northwestern city of Sokoto also killed a civilian and a police officer, said the regional police chief, Assistant Inspector General of Police Mukhtar Ibrahim. One of the bombers struck a compound containing a police station and regional police offices, he said, while another attacked a police station about two miles (four kilometers) away.

An injured man at Specialist Hospital Sokoto, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said he saw a car race into the main gate of the compound. He said he was on a bicycle when the blast went off, the impact threw him from the bike, and he hurt his hand in the fall.

Police sealed off roads leading to both police premises soon after the blasts.