The emergency services on Friday, said at least five people were killed in the bomb blast at a camp for people displaced by the Boko Haram conflict in northeast Nigeria.

Red Cross official, Aliyu Maikano said: “There was a blast at Malkohi Internally Displaced Persons (APC) camp in Yola around 11 o’clock this morning (1000 GMT).”

There were conflicting reports of the death toll at the camp, one of several in the capital of Adamawa state housing men, women and children who have fled the brutal, six-year conflict.

Suleiman Mohammed, director of response, relief and rehabilitation at the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), said five were killed and 20 injured.

The National Emergency Management Agency put the toll at three dead and nine injured.

The Adamawa state governor, Jibrilla Bindow, was reported as telling a meeting of northern governors that children were among the dead.

“There were NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency) officials, IDPs and some from the AUN (American University of Nigeria)” among the casualties, said Mohammed.

Lionel Rawlings, head of security at the AUN, which is based in Yola, confirmed student volunteers were injured by flying debris.

“None was in direct contact with the explosion but there was flying shrapnel. We dodged the bullet,” he said.

Mohammed said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device left by tents in the camp, which is just outside the city to the south and near an army base.