At least 14 people were killed and a further 26 were wounded, including some seriously, in a suicide bombing carried out at a World Cup screening event in Nigeria on Tuesday night.

The blast was triggered shortly after kick-off during the match between Brazil and Mexico, which a group of fans had gathered to watch in Damaturu, the capital of the Yobe state.

"My brother lives nearby. He and his son are wounded", Alhaji Ishiaku Yajub, a local resident, told German press agency 'dpa'. "He told me a lot of bodies have been taken to the hospital mortuary".

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram is widely suspected, as it rejects the Western way of life and considers football un-Islamic.

A spate of recent football-related bombings had placed the Nigerian authorities on alert ahead of the World Cup and last week fans were urged not to attend public screenings. An attack at the beginning of June killed 54 people after a local match, while a car bomb blast at the end of May claimed the lives of four people who had attended a viewing centre screening the Champions League final.