YENAGOA - A car exploded in the southern Nigerian oil city of Yenagoa late on Sunday close to a guesthouse owned by deputy state governor Peremobowei Ebebi, a government official said yesterday.

Police and anti-bomb squad officers sealed off the area around the building, according to the official from the government of Bayelsa, one of the three main states in the oil-producing Niger Delta.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion and there was no claim of responsibility. There were no reports of casualties the official who did not want to be named told Reuters.

Tensions have been high for months in Bayelsa state due to political rivalry between Governor Timipre Sylva and Ebebi, whose supporters would like to remove Sylva from office. - Reuters