Bomb denotes outside govt. building in Nigeria

PanARMENIAN.Net - An explosion rocked central Nigeria's city of Jos on Tuesday, with an official saying a bomb detonated outside a government building while residents reported heavy weapons fire from a lone attacker, AFP reports.

"There was an explosion this morning... in the Bukuru area of Jos South. The bomb was intended to blow up the secretariat of Jos South local government," said the Plateau state governor's spokesman Pam Ayuba.

He said it was not yet clear if anyone was killed, but a military spokesman and residents said one young person died in the attack.

Resident Murtala Abdullahi said an attacker fired a heavy weapon at a building from a main avenue, and that it appeared a Muslim school in the Bukuru area, across the street from the government building, was the target.

He said one student was killed.

Military spokesman Salihu Mustapha confirmed the attack, saying that "someone opened fire on some innocents," adding that "one of the bullets hit a child" who died.

Tension is high in Plateau after the army said it planned to launch campaigns in several areas to root out gunmen suspected of belonging to a mainly Muslim group of herdsmen accused of killing more than 100 people earlier this month.