Explosion Rocks Drinking Spot In North Nigeria Town

(Reuters) - A bomb blast rocked a popular drinking spot by an army barracks in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing several people hours after President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in for his first full term, officials said.

The blast hit the Mamy market on the edge of the city of Bauchi at around 8 pm (3 p.m. ET), police commissioner Muhammed Indabawa said. He said it was not clear who was responsible for the explosion and that no arrests had yet been made.

"A number of casualties have been recorded. Most victims have been moved to hospital and dead bodies have been evacuated," a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said.

Bauchi neighbors Plateau state in Nigeria's "Middle Belt" where the mostly Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south, a region beset by years of sectarian violence.

Hundreds of people were killed in northern towns last month in riots and reprisal killings after Jonathan, a Christian from the south, was declared winner of a presidential election, beating northern Muslim and former army ruler Muhammadu Buhari.