An explosion rocked the central Nigerian city of Jos on Saturday, the country's main relief agency said, just days after at least 118 people were killed in a twin car bomb attack.
"There has been an explosion in Jos," Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told AFP but said it was not clear what caused the blast nor if there were casualties.
Pam Ayuba, spokesman for the Plateau state governor Jonah Jang, said the blast happened on Bauchi Road at about 9:30 pm (2030 GMT) and appeared to target football fans watching the European Champions League final.
On Tuesday, two car bombs suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram Islamists exploded within 20 minutes of each other in a crowded market in Jos, killing at least 118 people.
The bombings -- Nigeria's deadliest -- came despite Nigeria's internationally backed security crackdown after the militant group kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls, triggering global outrage.
Jos is the capital of Plateau state, which falls in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, where the mainly Christian south meets the Muslim-majority north, and has seen deadly sectarian clashes in the past.
Boko Haram has also previously attacked the religiously divided city.
So-called football "viewing centres" have been targeted before, elsewhere in Nigeria.
Last month, suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed a packed viewing centre in Potiskum, northeast Yobe state, and shot dead two people showing the two Champions League quarter-final matches.
Police at the time did not directly blame Boko Haram for the attack but the group has been known for preaching against football as part of its agenda to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria.
In several video clips, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has described football and music as a Western ploy to distract Muslims from their religion.
There was no immediate word from the city's police about Saturday's blast but the military was mobilised to the scene.
Analysts said the blasts earlier this week indicated Boko Haram was extending its reach beyond the northeast, which has borne the brunt of the violence in the five-year insurgency.
An explosion rocked the central Nigerian city of Jos on Saturday, the country’s main relief agency said, just days after at least 118 people were killed in a twin car bomb attack.
“There has been an explosion in Jos,” Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told AFP but said it was not clear what caused the blast nor if there were casualties.
Pam Ayuba, spokesman for the Plateau state governor Jonah Jang, said the blast happened on Bauchi Road at about 9:30 pm (2030 GMT) and appeared to target football fans watching the European Champions League final.
On Tuesday, two car bombs suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram Islamists exploded within 20 minutes of each other in a crowded market in Jos, killing at least 118 people.
The bombings — Nigeria’s deadliest — came despite Nigeria’s internationally backed security crackdown after the militant group kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls, triggering global outrage.
Jos is the capital of Plateau state, which falls in Nigeria’s so-called Middle Belt, where the mainly Christian south meets the Muslim-majority north, and has seen deadly sectarian clashes in the past.
Boko Haram has also previously attacked the religiously divided city.
So-called football “viewing centres” have been targeted before, elsewhere in Nigeria.
Last month, suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed a packed viewing centre in Potiskum, northeast Yobe state, and shot dead two people showing the two Champions League quarter-final matches.
Police at the time did not directly blame Boko Haram for the attack but the group has been known for preaching against football as part of its agenda to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria.
In several video clips, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has described football and music as a Western ploy to distract Muslims from their religion.
There was no immediate word from the city’s police about Saturday’s blast but the military was mobilised to the scene.
Analysts said the blasts earlier this week indicated Boko Haram was extending its reach beyond the northeast, which has borne the brunt of the violence in the five-year insurgency.
