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Explosion hits Nigeria World Cup TV venue | |
(34 minutes later) | |
An explosion has hit northern Nigeria's Yobe state at a venue televising a World Cup football match, residents and security officials say. | |
The blast hit Damaturu town at about 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT), reports said. | |
There were reports of casualties being brought into hospitals, but it is not clear if there were any deaths. | |
Yobe is one of three areas under a state of emergency amid attacks by suspected Boko Haram militants. | |
"There was an explosion outside a soccer viewing centre here in Damaturu at around 20:15," Sanusi Ruf'ai, police commissioner for Yobe state, told AFP news agency. | |
"Our men have deployed to the scene but it's too early for us to give details." | |
The Nigerian authorities have warned residents in some states to avoid public screenings of the World Cup, fearing militant attacks. | |
On Thursday, the north-eastern state of Adamawa ordered all venues planning to show live coverage of the football tournament to close, saying they had received intelligence of planned bomb attacks. | |
The states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa have been under a state of emergency since May 2013. At least 2,000 people have died in the north-east since Boko Haram launched an insurgency in 2009. |