Bomb blasts hit Nigerian city of Jos

In December 2010, bombings in Jos killed at least 32 people and sparked sectarian reprisals [AFP]

At least two blasts have rocked the Nigerian city of Jos, with one death and a number of injuries reported at a bar where fans were watching Barcelona play Real Madrid.

One of the explosions was said to have occurred near the outdoor bar where residents were watching the Spanish football match.

“Two bombs have just exploded in Jos,” Pam Ayuba, spokesman for the governor of Plateau state, told the AFP news agency.

“We are yet to establish the numbers of casualties, but reports I got said some people were injured.”

Ayuba said the blast occurred in an area where Christian and Muslim groups often clash.

A Red Cross official told Al Jazeera that his team took at least ten people to hospital, adding that there could be more.

Resident Stanley Ejeh said: “The blast occurred … close to a soccer viewing centre.

“The viewing centre was packed with people. There was at least one death while several other injured victims were taken to hospital.”

Jos, the capital of Plateau state, has been hit by waves of sectarian violence in recent years which have killed thousands of people.

Plateau lies in the middle-belt region between the mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

The north has been hit by scores of attacks blamed on the armed Islamist group Boko Haram, which also claimed responsibility for the August suicide bombing of the UN headquarters in the capital Abuja which killed 24 people.