LAGOS (AFP) - An explosion rocked the central Nigerian 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.

"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, who did not know if anyone was killed, while residents said an attacker fired a heavy weapon at a building.